Star Trek: Pegasus
by Kane Magus
Summary: Star Strider is a recent graduate from Starfleet Academy, and this is her first posting to a Federation starship, the USS Pegasus. These are the stories of her adventures. This series takes place twenty years after the events in my previous fic, "Where Nopony Has Gone Before."
1. Pilot Episode - Part 1

"_Personal Log. Ensign Star Strider. Stardate six six two four… no, wait… six six four… urgh… you'd think after four years at the Academy I'd have this whole stardate thing down by now. Computer, would you please tell me what the current stardate is?_

"…

"…_thank you very much. Okay, let's try this again._

"_Personal Log. Ensign Star Strider. Stardate 66042.24_

"_Stardates. I've never been good with those. The only use I've ever had for dates in general was to keep track of whenever the next holiday was about to roll around. For example, I know that they're a little less than a couple of months away from Winter Wrap Up back home. Ah… things were so much simpler back in those days._

"_Not that I'm complaining at all, mind you. At this point, for the most part, I don't think my life could get any more awesome. Recent graduate of Starfleet Academy? Check. First posting to a starship? Double check. I'm so excited!_

"_But this ship that I've been posted to… I think someone at Starfleet Command must have a sense of humor. I've been assigned to the USS _Pegasus_. Ha ha, very funny. It'd be even funnier if I were actually a pegasus myself, I'm sure. Anyone listening to this log should be able to hear my eyes rolling._

"_Anyway… the _Pegasus_. Registration NCC-53847-A. (Yeah, I can remember _that_, but I can't even remember the stardate. Go figure.) It's apparently the first ship that has carried that name and registration in over two decades. I don't know any of the details because it's all classified, but I think the last ship to bear this name was involved in some sort of controversy. But now, after so long, they've decided to dust off the name for this brand new starship. Maybe they thought it would make a good impression on everypony back in Equestria to have a ship named for a breed of pony in service to this sector of space? Who knows? Most ponies won't care or even be aware of it, honestly._

"_Still, aside from the name, I can't complain at all, and I'm not even really complaining about that, either. It's just kind of amusing, that's all. But wow, what an incredible ship she is. She's the first of the brand new _Continuum-_class vessels and she only just sailed out of __Utopia Planitia__ a couple weeks ago or so. I can't believe I'm lucky enough to be serving on one of the most advanced starships in the fleet! I mean, I thought the _Sovereign-_class simulation that we did most of our training on at the Academy was amazing… and it was, don't get me wrong. I still would have considered myself _very_ lucky if I had managed to get to serve on one of those, like the _Enterprise_-E for instance. But this new ship… wow. She even has those new personal holo-emitters installed in each of the crew quarters. I'm definitely going to be playing around with that as soon as I finish this log entry._

"_So, anyway, I've been stationed on the _Pegasus_ as a member of the Engineering department, reporting to Chief Engineer Marco. As soon as I boarded the ship, I went to have a look at Engineering, and I have to say that I'm definitely looking forward to getting to work there. Everything is just so _new_. Also, I'm already going to be part of an away mission very soon! It's so awesome! I'm trying my best not to squee here. Sure, it's just a routine maintenance and resupply run to one of our listening posts out in the general vicinity of the middle of nowhere, but still… away mission! This whole trip out to the listening post is intended to be a bit of a shakedown cruise for both the ship and the crew before we truly get underway, but that doesn't make it any less cool._

"_All right, I think that's about all for now. I'm going to mess around here in my quarters for a bit, and then head down to the lounge. Maybe meet some of my fellow shipmates and try to get to know them. We're all going to be together for quite a while, after all."_

* * *

_**Star Trek: Pegasus**_

"Pilot Episode – Part 1"

By Kane Magus

* * *

The computer chirped, indicating that the log entry had been safely stored away for future reference. Ensign Star Strider sighed and looked around her quarters, which was pretty standard Starfleet fare. This was the first time she'd been inside them since arriving on the _Pegasus_ via Deep Space Twenty a few hours ago. She'd pretty much just walked through the door, hopped up onto the bed, and started recording a log entry.

"Bleh," she muttered to herself. "It's all a bit drab for my tastes, so let's do something about that. Computer, activate the personal holo-emitter system."

The computer chirped again and said, "System active. Awaiting input parameters."

Star moved her eyes around the room again as she lounged on the bed. "Hmm, let's see how close I can get this to looking like home. Computer, replace the floor with clouds, but make them mostly solid, though still with a bit of a spring to them. I want it to feel like I'm using my cloud walking spell, but I don't want to have to actually maintain the spell all the time." Star watched as the bland gray carpet reconfigured itself to look like the top of a fluffy white cloud. The bed wobbled a small amount as it resettled on the cloud top. She grinned as she jumped down from the bed and took a few tentative steps. It looked a bit weird, what with how the clouds met the normal wall, but that would be dealt with soon enough.

"Pretty close, computer," she said. "You're doing great so far. All right, let's do something about these walls and ceiling now. Replace them with open sky, as can be found on Equus III this time of year."

She frowned a bit, as she usually did, at having to say the designation given to her homeworld by Federation stellar cartographers. Perhaps it was another little joke of some sort. To her, it would forever just be "the world" or "earth" and such. After all, it's not like humans called _their_ homeworld "Sol III" all the time, did they? It was too bad the humans had already called dibs on the name "Earth" for their own planet, though. Unofficially, most people not actually from her homeworld just called the entire planet Equestria, though that wasn't really accurate either, as well as being somewhat insulting to the non-pony citizens who lived there in other nations. Star's frown deepened a bit and she shook her head to clear it of these wayward thoughts. She had much more interesting things to think about at the moment.

The computer beeped again and then the walls and ceiling vanished, completely replaced with bright blue sky as far as the eye could see. The cloud floor was similarly extended in all directions to the horizon. Princess Celestia's golden sun was shining down on her from directly overhead. Or, at least, that was the illusion, anyway. Star knew that the walls and ceiling were still there, but were simply invisible to the eye at the moment. She looked around and smiled. She'd add some wind effects later, and also some heat from the sun. Just because it was winter back home, that didn't mean she had to freeze in her quarters for the sake of authenticity. There was only one thing left to do, for the time being, as otherwise it would still look rather weird.

"Computer, let's replace all this boring Starfleet issue furniture with something more interesting. I'd like some Cloudsdale styled furniture, please." Star watched as all of the furniture in the room shimmered and then was replaced with something she was far more familiar and comfortable with. Everything from the bed to the desk to the dresser and all the rest now appeared to be constructed from clouds. "Excellent work, computer. Save this configuration, please. Wow, it almost feels like being home again. I'll fine tune things later, but this will definitely do for now. Yep, I am _so_ lucky to be able to serve on a ship like this."

Star bounced up onto the bed again, delighting in the extra springiness it now had thanks to the illusion of being made of cloudlike material, and then looked down at her travel bag. Most of her luggage was still stowed away in unopened boxes on the floor, awaiting the big unpacking binge that she was putting off until later, but the small brown bag contained those things which were most dear to her. The horn on her head flared with light blue magic as she worked the clasp on the bag and opened it. Among the few other items in the bag was a framed photograph, the one thing she cherished above all others. She telekinetically lifted it out of the bag and held it in front of her.

Star felt her eyes get a bit misty as she looked at the picture. In the background, a somewhat blurry Sugarcube Corner could be seen in the distance, along with a bit of the rest of Ponyville, but that wasn't the main focus of the photo, of course. For the moment, she ignored the small unicorn filly with the navy blue coat and the sky blue mane in favor of the two pegasi standing next to the filly. On the left side of the photo, to the filly's right, was a tall stallion with a white coat and a very deep blue, almost black mane and tail. His cutie mark was a black storm cloud, with a multi-forked silver lightning bolt dropping down out of it. He was looking directly at the camera and flashing a huge grin, his wings spread out wide to either side of him. On the right was a smaller mare, with a peach colored coat and golden mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a light gray raincloud, with droplets of water falling from the underside of it, and with the barest sliver of bright yellow sun peeking out over the top of the cloud. The mare was looking down at the unicorn filly with a soft, loving smile on her face. One of her wings was opened in order to enfold the filly. Finally, Star turned her eyes briefly to the blank-flanked unicorn filly herself. While being embraced by the wing of the peach-colored mare, the filly was gazing up at the stallion with a look of pure adoration on her face. Star remembered how she'd felt when this picture had been originally taken and ruefully wished that things could be that way again someday. That, however, would require a lot more proactiveness on her part than she felt she was ready for at this time.

"Mom… Dad…" Star said quietly, sniffling a bit and trying to hold back the tears. She tossed her head to shake away a few loose strands of the same sky blue mane that she shared with her photographic counterpart and that had fallen down in front of her eyes. "I know we didn't part on good terms… and I still feel terrible about it… but… but I hope you'd still be proud of me and what I've accomplished, all the same. If only you knew. I… I _really_ miss you. Maybe someday I'll finally manage to work up the courage to face you again, and apologize for how horrible I was to you." She levitated the picture frame slowly over to the nightstand next to the bed. She stared at it for several moments, fighting back tears, before finally closing her eyes, letting out a heavy sigh, and climbing down off of the bed once more.

"Right, enough of that for now," she said to herself quietly. Then, a bit more cheerfully, she added, "It's time to go meet my shipmates."

* * *

The starship's main lounge was packed. It seemed as though Star wasn't the only one who'd had the idea to come and meet their fellow crewmates. Most of the tables were full of a wide variety of people, maybe half of them human. Star heard snippets from various conversations as she slowly made her way through the large room, most of them having to do with mundane matters of ship business or just trivial small talk and the like. Most of those with whom she made eye contact gave her friendly nods of acknowledgement, which she returned with smiles and nods of her own, though she knew very few of them by name thus far. Not having anywhere else to be, Star started toward one of the open stools at the bar, but was stopped short when a voice very close by began to speak directly to her.

"Excuse me," said the nervous voice. "Um… I know this is probably a really dumb question, but… you're from Equestria, aren't you?" Star turned her head and saw a brown-haired human man sitting alone at a small, three-sided table, facing the bar and with his back to the huge windows along the outer wall of the lounge. He looked to be in his late teens or early twenties, if she judged human age and appearance correctly. He was roughly her own age, in other words. He was wearing a black uniform with gray quilted vertical stitches in the shoulder area, similar to the one she was wearing, but with a red undershirt, indicating that he was in the Command division. He was smiling up at her in a bit of embarrassment. "Yeah, that was an incredibly lame icebreaker, wasn't it? Where _else_ would you be from?" He gestured at one of the two empty chairs at the table. "Please join me. That is, if you don't mind, of course."

Star smiled and said, "Sure. I don't have anywhere in particular to be." She sat down in the proffered chair and watched the man, who in turn merely looked back at her.

An awkward few seconds passed before the human blinked and then said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm supposed to introduce myself now, aren't I? My name is James Tompkins. My friends call me Jim, and so can you. I'm an ensign… as I'm… sure you can see…" He shuffled around in his chair bashfully and briefly tugged at the collar of his uniform with his index finger. His collar did indeed sport a single gold pip, Star noticed, just as the collar of her own uniform did. "I'm the helmsman for the _Pegasus_. Some have tried to claim that I'm one of the best pilots to come out of the Academy in years, but… well, I don't know about all that… I don't think I'm all _that_ good… I mean, I'm certainly no Hikaru Sulu or Tom Paris or anything… but… um… yeah, I'm already rambling, aren't I? I have a tendency to do that, or so I've been told."

"Not at all…" said Star, smiling reassuringly, "…well, maybe a _little_. I'm Ensign Star Strider, and I'm with the engineering team, under Commander Marco. To answer your earlier question, yes, I am from… Equus III. From the nation of Equestria in particular, as you noted, since that's where most of us ponies live, of course."

"Oh, that's right," said Tompkins, looking abashed all over again. "I shouldn't have called the whole planet Equestria. Sorry about that."

"Not a problem," said Star, with a shake of her head. "Pretty much everyone does it. I don't mind, personally, but just be careful around any non-ponies you might meet from there. Griffons and dragons in particular wouldn't take it too kindly."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Tompkins. "It's just that… well… you see, my dad was serving on board the _Enterprise_-D when they made first contact with your world."

Star's eyes widened at this. "Oh really?" she asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Yeah," said the human ensign. "He's told me a few stories about it. And yet… despite that, I've never actually been there myself or even met a pony before this moment. Well, not directly anyway. I did see _you_ from time to time at the Academy, at a distance, but I never had an opportunity to speak with you before now." Star studied the man's face a bit more carefully, trying to recall if she'd ever seen him before, but if she had, she definitely didn't remember it. He noticed her scrutiny and said, "You wouldn't remember me, I'm sure. Though we had a couple of classes together, we never actually got within a half dozen meters of one another, and I graduated a semester before you did. Most of the time, I was usually off at the other end of the Academy from the engineering wing where you were. I'm sure to you I would have just been one out of hundreds of other humanoid faces in the crowd, but for me, it would have been impossible to mistake a blue pony for anything else, even at a distance."

Star blushed a bit, somewhat glad that her coat was dark enough that it wouldn't be easily noticed. She thought that she had gotten used to all the attention that the simple fact of being the only pony so far in Starfleet had gained her by now, after having to endure it for four years at the Academy. It was far worse the first year or so, but by the end of her time at the Academy, most of her fellow cadets had gotten used to having her around. There had always been occasions where some of the younger cadets would gawk at her as she passed by them in the corridors, but on the whole, things had returned to some semblance of normality by her second year. But now it seemed as though the whole thing might be starting anew here on the _Pegasus_, at least if Tompkins was any indication at all.

"So," she said, in an attempt to move the subject away from herself, "tell me about your dad and the first contact. I was still a month or so away from being born when it happened, so I don't know all that much about it, aside from what I've heard in stories here and there. For me, it's hard to imagine what it was like before."

Tompkins shifted in his seat a bit and said, "Well, there's not a lot to tell, at least as far as the role my dad played, anyway. He worked in Phaser Control at the time, and that's where he was during the Borg attack. He did tell me that he met one of the ponies though. I forget her name now, but he said that she was a purple unicorn and-"

"Oh wow," Star broke in excitedly, "your dad actually met Twilight Sparkle?!"

Tompkins nodded and snapped his fingers. "That's it! That was her name. I knew it was something like that. Yeah, he said she was there helping to magically augment the phaser array, but the Borg counterattacked with some kind of radiation feedback weapon along the phaser beam. To hear him tell it, everyone in the room almost died, and… well, one person did. They put my dad in a different room in Sickbay than the one that Twilight Sparkle was in, though, so he didn't really get to see her or any of the other ponies that were on the ship after that."

"Aw, that's too bad," said the unicorn. "Twilight was my magical mentor for a time, at least while my family and I were living down in Ponyville, anyway. She's really nice. She's actually an alicorn princess now, and has been for as long as I can remember. It's for me hard to imagine that she was ever a regular old unicorn, like me. It's just too bad I wasn't a very good student of magic, though." At Tompkins's questioning look, she sighed and continued. "I'm just not that good with it, compared to other unicorns. I have the basic telekinesis that all unicorns have, and I have a couple of other spells, like a cloud walking spell and… my shield spell… but that's about it."

Tompkins shook his head and said, "Aw, I'm sure you're great. Hey, can you show me? Some magic, I mean." At Star's raised eyebrow, Tompkins quickly added, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to impose or anything. If it's inappropriate for me to ask, just forget I said anything."

"No, nothing like that," said Star, shrugging. "It's just a bit weird to me, that's all. As far as I'm concerned, it's no big deal. I forget sometimes that other species such as humans don't have magic like we do." She looked around and said, "Well, there are obviously no clouds here for me to walk on and I'd… really rather not use the shield spell right now, so I guess that leaves basic telekinesis. Will that be good enough?"

"Oh, definitely," said Tompkins, who appeared to be barely able to contain his excitement at the prospect of seeing real magic. "Anything you want to do…"

"Okay. Here goes," said Star. She looked down at the table and focused on the small centerpiece. With her horn aglow with a bright blue light, she enveloped the small piece of décor in her magic and lifted it into the air. She briefly moved it around in a simple figure eight pattern a few times in front of Tompkins before placing it back on the table. "How was that? I know it probably wasn't very impressive or anything."

"No, that was amazing!" he said, a wide grin on his face. "Seriously, that's just an everyday thing for you?"

"I guess so, yeah," said Star, with another shrug. "It's not really any more special than if you'd reached out with your hand and picked it up. It's kind of funny, because I know of a unicorn who is just as fascinated by human hands as you seem to be by unicorn magic." She glanced around and noticed that her little display had drawn the eyes of several others at some of the nearby tables as well. Apparently, it wasn't every day that they saw telekinesis in use. Before she could do more than weakly smile back at them in embarrassment, she heard someone clearing their throat behind her. Glancing at Tompkins, she noticed he'd gotten a bit more rigid in his seat. She turned in her chair to see who it was, which caused her to sit up a bit straighter as well.

"At ease, ensigns," said Lieutenant Commander Tobias Marco, the chief engineer for the USS _Pegasus_. He was quite a tall man, approaching seven feet tall, with black hair that was graying at the edges. He was also sporting a thick chevron mustache, also mostly black with flecks of gray. Similar to Star herself, he was wearing the golden undershirt of the Operations division. "Ensign Strider, it's convenient that I ran into you here. I was going to contact you a bit later this morning to go over the parameters for our upcoming away mission and a few other things, but now is as good a time as any, if you don't mind."

Star nodded and said, "Of course, sir. I'm not busy at the moment." She glanced briefly at Tompkins, who gave the slightest of nods, and turned back to Marco. "Please join us, sir."

"Thank you," said Marco, taking the remaining seat at the table. "As you know, we'll be arriving at the Listening Post 71 Gamma in about two hours. However, there's been a slight complication. We lost contact with the listening post around thirty minutes ago. At this point, we don't know if it's anything other than a simple communications malfunction, since we do know that they've been having intermittent issues with their equipment for days now, but we're going to treat it as a potential emergency situation all the same. We're hoping that the two crewmen stationed on the listening post will have things up and running again shortly, but until that happens, we're going to play it safe."

Star's face fell a bit as she considered the implications of this. "I suppose that means that you'll want someone more experienced for the away mission."

Marco shook his head. "No, not at all. Ensign Strider, I've been looking over your Academy record. You are a very gifted engineer. You seem to have a natural talent for it, in fact. I hope I'm not being insulting when I say that I was actually quite surprised by just _how_ good you are, given the circumstances…"

Star raised an eyebrow at this. "You mean, given that I am a pony?"

Marco sighed. "Yes, when you come right out and say it like that, it does sound quite insulting, doesn't it? I'm sorry. I was actually referring more to the general level of technology of your world prior to first contact, though. Then again, despite that, it was pony enhanced weapons that helped the _Enterprise_ to defeat a Borg cube back during that first contact, so I suppose I shouldn't have entertained such misconceptions about your people in the first place. Again, I apologize. Don't worry. I definitely still want you with us on the away mission. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Star smiled, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Tompkins was grinning as well. For some reason, he seemed almost happier for her than she was. Focusing once again on Marco, she said, "Thank you, sir. That means a lot to me."

"One other thing I'd like to speak to you about," said Marco. "I've already talked this over with Captain Sovaal, and he has approved, pending your agreement. I would like you to act as the official Engineering liaison to the bridge in my stead."

Star's eyes widened in shock at this. "What? Me? A bridge officer?"

"Yes," said Marco, nodding. "I'm exercising my prerogative as chief engineer to assign this to you. Personally, I feel that my place is in Engineering. I know that most other chief engineers tend to spend about half their time on the bridge, but that is not my way. I prefer to stay fully in the trenches, as they say. I've been able to make this arrangement on my previous postings and I hope to do the same here, as well. That is, if you agree to become my liaison, of course."

"Oh, yes, sir," said Star, trying to hide her excitement at unexpectedly becoming a bridge officer out of the blue. "I definitely agree to become your liaison."

Marco smiled at her enthusiasm. "Don't worry about missing out on getting any practical experience in Engineering, of course, as there will be plenty of time for that, but I think this will be a good opportunity for you as well. I'll still have to put in the occasional appearance on the bridge myself, but on the whole, I will be leaving most things in your hands. Or… should I say hooves?" Marco smiled again as he stood up and prepared to leave. "At any rate, we'll be arriving at the listening post in just under two hours from now, so be ready. Until then, get back to enjoying your off-duty time."

"Yes, sir. I'll be ready, sir," said Star confidently. "And thank you again, sir."

"It's no problem," said Marco. "If anything, you're doing me a favor. Well, I'll see you when we get there." He nodded to Tompkins. "Ensign."

Tompkins nodded in return and watched for a bit as the chief engineer headed for the exit, then turned back to Star, looking as if he were about to burst at the seams. "That is _so cool!_ You're going to be a bridge officer, too!"

"I know, right?" said Star, letting her own excitement bubble through. "This is completely unexpected, but… _wow_." They just sat there for a few moments, basking in Star's unexpected good fortune, though she still didn't quite understand why Tompkins seemed so excited about it. It didn't really have much to do with him, after all.

After a few moments, Tompkins said, "So… I had another question for you…"

"Yes?" said Star after several seconds had passed, since it seemed like he needed a bit of prompting to get it out.

"Well… um," he said, his bashfulness surging to the fore once more. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but… um, when you turned to greet Commander Marco, I… uh… well… I got a good look at your… um… flank? Is that what you call it?"

Star blushed once again, more deeply this time. It wasn't anything of real significance to her, but she was fully aware of how some humanoids tended to consider such things. She seriously hoped this wasn't going where she feared it might be going.

"And… well," continued Tompkins, his face so red that Star was concerned that it might actually catch fire, "I couldn't help but notice that your uniform seems to be… um… er… well, _missing_ in that particular area. And I just wanted to ask… is that a tattoo of an isolinear chip?"

Star sighed in relief. "Oh, you mean my cutie mark? Yeah, it's a chip."

Tompkins blinked a few times, clearly not understanding what she was talking about. "A cutie… mark?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Star, holding back another sigh as she prepared to launch into an abbreviated version of what was, by this point, an increasingly tedious speech to explain cutie marks that she'd given countless times before. "It's a mark all ponies get as they get older. They tend to reflect what it is that makes a pony unique, or where their talents may lie. Mine just happens to be an isolinear chip. There's a story in that, but… I don't really want to get into all that right now. Let's just say that it's what finally convinced me that my path led to Starfleet Academy and ultimately to here on the _Pegasus_."

Ensign Tompkins nodded. "So it's kind of like a birthmark, except that it comes in at puberty, I guess? And, obviously, it has more meaning than a simple birthmark."

Star nodded in return. "That's a succinct way of explaining it, if not precise."

Tompkins glanced down through the glass table top at her flank again, trying to be subtle about it and utterly failing in the attempt. Star pretended not to notice. "So, uh, I guess that's why your uniform is cut away like that?" asked the human ensign.

The unicorn nodded again, feeling a bit uncomfortable once more. She _really_ hoped that this was just a thing with Tompkins in particular and that her somewhat nonstandard uniform wouldn't become a real issue in general. "Yes, it is. I actually had a part in designing the uniform. As you can see, it covers most of my body, from my neck down to the top of my hooves, though I don't require Starfleet issue boots or anything like that, since they'd just hinder me. So, anyway, just about everything is covered up, which is rather unusual for us ponies. However, I was determined to _not _have my cutie mark be constantly covered, so I did what I could to insist that an allowance be made for it. I'd heard about similar breaks in uniform code being allowed for things like Bajoran earrings, tribal tattoos, Klingon warrior sashes and such, so I wanted something similar for my cutie mark. It has personal meaning to me and I didn't want it to be hidden away all the time. Hopefully, for any ponies who might later follow me into Starfleet, something like this will become the standard uniform. It's not really a fashion statement or anything like that, though, if that's what you're wondering."

Tompkins's face flushed even redder, though Star wondered how that was even possible. "No, no, it's nothing like that. It's just that… well… I just think it looks nice, that's all." He stared at Star and she stared back at him. They sat there like that, staring at each other for what had to be an eternity. Tompkins finally regained control of his vocal chords… mostly. "The mark I mean… not your flank… er… not to say that your flank doesn't also… …oh… oh man… believe me, I didn't mean it like that at all… honest. I just meant that... I mean, you… oh god… I'm so sorry… I just…"

Star thanked Celestia once more that she had a dark coat that did an adequate enough job of hiding her own burning face. She sighed again, rather loudly, though even she wasn't sure if it was in annoyance or in sympathy with the plight of Tompkins. Perhaps it was little of both. "Look, I know how you humans and other humanoids tend to feel about… um… bared flesh, especially in… _that_ part of the body, but you have to understand that for us ponies… well… I'll just come right out and say it. If you ever visit Equestria yourself someday, don't be alarmed when you see a bunch of completely naked ponies walking around as though it were the most normal thing in the world, because, for us, it _is_ the most normal thing in the world. To be perfectly honest, being almost entirely covered up like this is somewhat chafing."

Tompkins let out a sigh of his own, propped his elbows on the table, and rested his entire face in his cupped hands. Through his fingers, his slightly muffled voice said, "I'm sorry, again. I led this conversation down a path that I had no intention of traversing when I started out. Heck, I didn't even _see_ the path until we were already careening down it out of control. Helmsman, reverse engines. Bring us to a full stop. Back us away, slowly and carefully. Now get us the hell out of here, warp nine."

Star giggled a bit, despite the situation, or perhaps because of it. "Don't worry about it. Trust me when I say that you're most assuredly not the first humanoid to have… um… _issues_ with me in that manner. I'll let you in on a little secret. Well… okay, maybe it's not _that_ big of a secret, given that pretty much my entire graduating class knows the story. You may have even heard it yourself, since you were at the Academy at the same time as me.

"Well, anyway, yeah, my first day at the Academy, I showed up for my first class not wearing a thing, naked as the day I was born. I didn't think the first thing about it, because, as I said, that was what was completely natural for me. It didn't even register to me until about halfway through class that all of the whispered conversations going on around me were _about_ me. And once I _did_ become aware of it… well, in most cases, I kind of wished that my hearing wasn't quite as good as it was. Some of it was somewhat flattering, actually, but… a lot of it… um… well, _some_ of it kind of made my skin crawl. Most of it just made me feel terribly embarrassed, even the flattering stuff. It was _not_ a very pleasant hour and a half, believe me. I briefly considered getting up and leaving in the middle of class, but that would have just drawn _more_ attention to me.

"And then, after class, the teacher took me aside and had a few choice suggestions concerning my… um, apparel, or rather the lack thereof. Mostly, he just strongly suggested that I acquire some, by hook or by crook. Let's just say that after that class, I was lucky to have enough free time before my next class to visit a local boutique and have some basic cadet uniforms tailored and replicated for me. Even luckier was the fact that it was one of the Carousel Boutique franchises, meaning that there was a pony running things and that she completely understood my dilemma. Still, my classmates never really let me live that one down, and it kind of became something of a running joke for the entire four years we were at the Academy. At this point, even _I_ almost find it funny, looking back on the whole thing. Almost."

Tompkins finally raised his face out of his hands and looked at her once more. He shook his head and said, "Well, I don't know about you, but I could definitely use a drink right about now. Would you like a synthale? I'll go get us a couple at the bar."

Star considered a bit, and then nodded. "Yeah, I think I could go for a drink myself. Make mine an apple cider though, please."

Tompkins smiled as he stood up and said, "All right, one synthale and one apple cider, coming right up."

The unicorn watched as the human made his way over to the bar. Things might have been a little wobbly there for a bit… okay, a _lot_ wobbly… but on the whole, she decided that she liked him well enough. In any case, it felt good to have made a friend already.

* * *

Not quite two hours later found Star standing in the transporter room, along with Chief Engineer Marco and the Security Chief/Tactical Officer, a lieutenant commander named Benjamin Lathrop. The three of them were standing on the transporter pads, awaiting the arrival of the first officer, Commander Jonah Gabriel. Lathrop ran a hand through his curly ginger hair and then pulled out and inspected his Type-II hand phaser for what had to have been the eighth time in the span of five minutes. He had been a last minute addition to the away team, given that they still had not regained contact with the listening post, and so they had no idea what to expect when they beamed over.

The door to the transporter room swished open and a relatively tall man (though not nearly as tall as Marco) with short-cropped blonde hair strode through. "All right, people," said Commander Gabriel, "as you know, the specs on this mission have changed. What was to have been a simple maintenance and resupply run has now become an investigation. Keep your eyes open when we get over there. Hopefully, we'll simply be greeted by a couple of chagrined crewmen who are having trouble with their communications equipment. With that said, however, we're getting some sort of energy readings originating from within the listening post that neither we nor the computer have been able to identify. They're interfering with our sensors and we can't get a positive scan on the lifesigns of the crew over there, so stay alert. Are there any questions before we beam over?"

Star briefly glanced at the other two members of the away team. Lathrop made a few last adjustments to his phaser before stowing it in his belt. He stroked his ginger goatee for a bit, and then thought better of it and pulled the phaser out again, holding it in a ready position in preparation for the beam over. Marco met her eyes and nodded slightly before turning to the first officer and saying, "No, sir. I believe we're ready."

"Very well," said Gabriel, stepping up onto the transporter pad. To the transporter operator, he said, "Beam us into the secondary alcove, as far away from the sources of the energy emanations as you can get us. Energize."

Star took a deep breath and waited for the familiar tingle of the transporter beams to take effect. As they did, she felt her awareness fade away briefly before reasserting itself. The first thing that greeted her upon returning to reality was almost near total darkness. She immediately levitated out her tricorder and began manipulating the controls with her magic.

"Looks like an almost complete power failure," muttered Lathrop, squinting in the low light and sweeping his phaser slowly back and forth, in conjunction with the flashlight attached to his arm. "I don't hear the hum of the reactor at all."

Star studied the tricorder for a moment and said, "Almost all systems are down. Life support is still operational, but only barely, and is running on emergency backup. Even that appears to be in imminent danger of failing, however."

"We should get to the reactor and get it operational again as soon as possible," said Marco. He was similarly studying his tricorder in the dim light.

"Normally, I'd agree," said Commander Gabriel, moving his arm back and forth and allowing the flashlight attached to it to illuminate the area. "However, I think our first priority should be to find the missing crew. This is not a big installation at all, and there aren't many places they could be. For now, we will stay together and search the listening post. Keep an eye on those errant energy readings as we move."

The away team made their way from the small alcove into the area intended as the living quarters for the two crewmen. It was pretty cramped and rather sparse as far as creature comforts went. There were a couple of cots and a door that led off to a lavatory and a small sonic shower. The crew had done what they could to personalize the area, but it still seemed a pretty austere existence. Star found herself once again thanking Celestia for her relatively spacious quarters back on the _Pegasus_. Then she noticed something odd on her tricorder.

"Commander Gabriel, my readings indicate that emergency force fields were activated in this area less than an hour ago," she said.

Lathrop did a slow spin, taking in every inch of the room with his eyes, or at least what he could make out with the help of his flashlight, anyway. "I wonder if they were trying to keep something out… or in?"

"Given that the missing crewmen are not here themselves, and that the force fields are no longer operational, your guess is as good as mine," said Gabriel. "Let's continue on to the main control room."

A short time later, they entered the main control area of the listening post. It looked to Star sort of like the bridge of a starship, except in miniature. There were consoles lining the outer edges of the room but the center of the room was clear of furniture. All of the consoles were dark, as were the several view screens lining the walls above them. There were a couple of chairs next to the consoles, with their bases embedded into a track in the floor which circled almost the entire room, being broken only at the points where the walls met the doors. It was designed so that the chairs could quickly move between the various consoles as needed, but, like everything else, the track was not receiving power at the moment. The room didn't seem nearly as cramped as the living quarters had been, but it was still fairly tight, especially compared to the bridge of the _Pegasus_.

"Force fields were active here as well, sir," said Star, sweeping her tricorder around. "I'm also detecting weapons signatures… phasers and… something else I don't recognize. Still no sign of the crewmen nor are the energy emanations present here."

"That only leaves one place left to check," said Marco. "The reactor room."

Commander Gabriel was now holding his own phaser in hand as well. "Okay, let's go. Once we get there, we'll try to get the reactor running again, but be ready for anything. We still have little idea what's been going on here, but it doesn't look good."

The away team made its way into the last unsearched area of the installation. The reactor was ominously dark and silent. Both Star and Marco pointed their tricorders at it.

"Hmm," said Marco, "it doesn't appear to be damaged at all. It has merely been shut down for some reason. I'll have it back up and running in no time."

"Do it," said Gabriel. "Ensign Strider, do you detect our missing crewmen at all?'

Star frowned as she shifted the tricorder around in her levitation field. "No sir, I don't. However, the energy emanations are originating from within this room as well. The crewmen could be right in front of us and the tricorder probably wouldn't be able to detect them. I'm barely picking up even our own readings."

"Maybe a little light will help," said Marco. "Powering on the reactor… now." Just as he finished speaking, the low hum of the reactor reappeared, and along with it came the lights and other systems. Star hadn't realized just how deathly silent it had been until that moment. It was rather eerie.

"Oh my god!" shouted Lathrop.

The others turned in his direction and saw that he was staring up at the ceiling. Their eyes followed his and Star felt her stomach do a somersault at what she saw. There, affixed to the ceiling and encased by something that looked way too much like spider webbing for her comfort, except that it was a sickly yellowish color (which only made it even worse), were the two missing crewmembers. Or, at least, what remained of them, anyway. They were very clearly dead, though it didn't seem to have been for long.

"What the hell _happened_ here?" said Gabriel angrily.

Before anyone could reply to him, a high pitched shriek that couldn't possibly have been made by human or pony vocal chords sounded within the room. Immediately following this, the air filled with what sounded like loud clicking or chittering.

"We have contacts!" shouted Lathrop, backing away swiftly. "They came out of nowhere! Some sort of personal camouflage or cloaking devices!"

"Get back to the main control room, on the double!" yelled Gabriel, who was already moving in that direction. "We'll have more room there! Move!"

The four members of the away team turned and ran back for the mini-bridge. In the short few seconds that she'd had to look, Star had gotten a glimpse of… _something_. What she'd seen, however, she couldn't even begin to process yet.

As soon as they were all in the control room, Gabriel barked out, "Computer! Erect a level 10 force field around this room and the controls in the reactor room immediately!" The telltale flick of the energy fields popping into place was seen not a second too soon, because that's when the… _whatever_ they were… decided to attack.

"What the hell _are_ those things?" yelled Marco. He'd joined Lathrop and Gabriel in drawing his phaser and all three of them were pointing their weapons at the open doorway. Beyond the door were several alien beings. They looked vaguely like giant tarantulas, each about the same size and height as Star was, except with _far_ too many legs. Their huge, bulbous heads were covered in hundreds of what Star assumed were tiny eyes and a couple of incredibly wicked looking mandibles. Several pairs of their forelegs were raised and each leg appeared to be wielding a weapon of some sort. Star couldn't tell whether these were projectile or melee weapons or both, given that the limbs of the closest creatures were flailing about and smashing repeatedly into the force field, whereas those of the creatures that were farther back appeared to be taking aim and firing large balls of white energy into the force fields. What was most disturbing was that the legs didn't seem to be segmented like a spider's would, but were more fluid like the tentacles of an octopus. Star tried to scan them with her tricorder, but as far as the device was concerned, these creatures didn't exist at all, except as vague energy readings.

"The force fields are losing integrity!" called out the chief engineer.

"Marco, Strider, do what you can to keep those force fields up!" ordered Gabriel. "Lathrop, you're with me. If the field goes down, fire at will!" He then slapped his combadge and said, "Away team to _Pegasus_! The listening post has been overrun by alien invaders! The crew is dead and we are under attack! We need immediate emergency beam out!"

From over the comm channel, they heard a voice call out, "I can't get a lock on them, Captain! There's too much interference from the force field as well as the strange energy emanations that we picked up earlier."

"Stand by, away team," came the steady voice of Captain Sovaal. "We're working to retrieve you."

The console that Star was working on sparked and fizzled out. She slid her chair around to another one nearby and reconfigured it to the force field systems. "Sir, we're about to lose the fields!" she cried out.

"Keep at it, ensign!" ordered Gabriel.

"It's too late, sir!" Star shouted. Sure enough, just as she spoke, the force fields started to fizzle out. Knowing that they had scant seconds left, and without even stopping to really consider what she was about to do, Star rushed to the middle of the room and lowered her head.

"What are you doing, ensign?!" thundered Commander Gabriel, as both he and Lathrop prepared to open fire on the aliens. "Get back to the controls!"

Star's horn began to glow blue and a split second later, a large, translucent green ellipsoid of energy winked into existence around her and the rest of the away team, almost entirely filling the room and keeping the aliens attackers at bay once more. "ARGH!" she screamed as the alien beings smashed into the shield. They began attacking the shield the same as they had the force fields earlier.

"What… the hell…?" muttered Marco, barely audible over the din of battle. "That almost looks like the shields of a starship…"

"Strider, can we fire through this?" asked Lathrop urgently.

Star gritted her teeth and squinted at him through watery eyes. "Yes, and… hurry! Even in the best of conditions, I can't… keep this up for long!" Needing no further prompting than that, the three remaining away team members cut loose with their phasers on the alien creatures. To their shock, however, the aliens took minimal injuries as they were somehow able to anticipate where the beams were going to be and shift their bodies around instantaneously in order to avoid them. Even when Lathrop began to make quick sweeping gestures with his phaser while firing it, the aliens were still able to maneuver around the beam. It was surreal to watch it happen.

"Commander Gabriel," said Captain Sovaal's voice over the comm channel. "We are detecting an energy spike in your location that appears to be consistent with that of starship shielding. May we assume that this is somehow your doing?"

"Yes!" shouted Gabriel, over the din of phaser fire and the return fire of the alien creatures. "Ensign Strider is using her magic to erect a shield."

"That shield is preventing us from beaming you out," said the captain. "During the brief moment between when the force field went down and this new shield went up, we were able to establish a weak transporter lock, but it has been broken again. You will need to drop the shield in order for us to beam you to safety."

"Strider, did you hear that?" shouted Gabriel.

"Yes…" said Star, struggling to speak as the strain of holding up the shield was nearly taxing her to her limit, especially considering that the aliens were still pounding away on it. "Gather… around me. I will… drop the shield when ready… but please… make it quick…"

"Captain," said Marco, "instead of attempting to establish a transporter lock on us individually, just beam back everything within a two meter radius vertical column from the center of the shield when it goes down. It should be a few seconds faster, and we're going to need all the extra seconds we can get. When this shield goes down, those aliens will be on us in the blink of an eye."

"Acknowledged," replied the unruffled voice of Sovaal. "Transporter room, make ready to do as Commander Marco suggests."

The voice of the transporter operator replied with a simple, "Aye, sir."

"All right, Ensign," said Gabriel, "on the count of three, drop the shield."

"Yes… sir…" said Star weakly. She was very close to passing out.

"One, two, three… mark!" shouted Gabriel. "_Pegasus_, energize! Energize!"

Star let her magic die, and was almost instantly rewarded with the tingle of the transporter beams. Her heart leapt into her throat as, even through the beams, she could see the aliens skittering toward them. It was a horrifying sight. If she could have screamed, she would have, because one of the alien projectiles flew directly at her face, but it was luckily deflected by the transporter beams. Thankfully, her consciousness dimmed out as the transporters did their work.

* * *

As soon as the transporters returned them to the _Pegasus_, Commander Gabriel said, "Lathrop, Strider, come with me to the bridge. Toby, you get back to Engineering. If these aliens have a ship nearby, we might need a miracle or two pretty quick."

"I'll try to whip up a couple as soon as I can," said the chief engineer.

Star, Gabriel, and Lathrop hurried out of the transporter room and made their way to the nearest turbolift. As the turbolift made its way to the bridge, the ship suddenly shook rather violently.

"Looks like I was right about them having a ship in the area," muttered Gabriel.

"Don't you just love it when you're right?" said Lathrop.

"In this case, I'd have been glad to be wrong," said the first officer.

Seconds later, the doors opened just as the _Pegasus_ heaved again. The three of them rushed out of the compartment, with Gabriel going to his chair next to the captain, Lathrop replacing the junior officer at the tactical station, and Star moving to the engineering station on the left side of the bridge. Star's eyes briefly turned toward the forward bridge stations and, sure enough, there was Ensign Tompkins sitting at the helm. He gave her a quick grin and nod before turning back to his station.

"It appears we have some uninvited guests," said Captain Sovaal. He was looking intently at the forward view screen, which was showing something that none of them had ever seen before. Well, that is, none of them except for the four away team members who'd been on the listening post. The thing that was attacking the _Pegasus_ looked exactly like one of the aliens that had been on the listening post, except several thousand times larger, making it about twice as large as the _Pegasus_ itself. Just as the smaller aliens had been, the large one appeared to be wielding several weapons on its forelegs, and it was using them to both smash the _Pegasus_ and to fire projectiles at her.

Star had turned her eyes away from the view screen and to her console after only a second or so of looking at the horror that was attacking the ship, and it was a good thing she did. "Sir!" she said, "I'm detecting something detaching itself from the station!"

"It's the aliens, sir!" said Lathrop. "They're the ones that attacked us on the listening post. They've somehow managed to exit the installation and are now flying back to rejoin the larger creature. They're clearly capable of surviving in outer space conditions. They've now entered the larger creature… no, wait, that's not exactly correct. They've _attached_ themselves to the larger creature."

"Captain," said Star, confusion in her voice at what her readings were telling her, "I don't think that the larger creature is actually a single creature. I believe that what we're seeing is really a mass of several thousand of the smaller creatures. They've simply joined together somehow and have made the shape of one larger creature." She leaned in her seat as the ship shook again due to the creature, or whatever it was, smashing its weapon appendages into the shields of the _Pegasus_ once more.

"We have been more than patient with our visitors out there," said Captain Sovaal. "We have tried hailing them but they've completely ignored us in favor of attacking. Mr. Lathrop, target the center mass of the creature with phasers and a tight spread of quantum torpedoes. You may fire when ready."

"Yes, sir," said Lathrop, an edge of satisfaction in his voice as he worked his console. On the view screen, they watched as a dozen solid phaser beams lanced out at the mass of creatures along with a multitude of bolts from the phaser cannon turrets mounted on the dorsal and ventral sides of the saucer section of the _Pegasus_. Joining this barrage was eight crystal blue quantum torpedoes. The creatures, however, simply reconfigured their appearance to instantly create huge holes in what had been the body of the larger creature, which caused the phaser beams and bolts to miss and the torpedoes to sail harmlessly off into space, their targets lost. A couple of the torpedoes managed to reacquire a target, but the result was the same as the first time, causing them to ultimately join their siblings in sailing off into nowhere. In response to this attack, all of the forward weapon-wielding appendages of the large form smashed into the _Pegasus _simultaneously. It was clear that the attacks the creatures had been using before were merely probing strikes. Now, it appeared, they had decided to get serious.

"Damn it!" shouted Lathrop. "That last attacked dropped our shields to eighteen percent. We definitely won't be able to take another hit like that!"

Sovaal, as calm as a cliff facing the oncoming tide, said, "Arm a transphasic torpedo." Everyone on the bridge turned to look at him. The transphasic torpedoes were by far the strongest weapons they had at their disposal, capable of destroying a Borg cube in one shot. To bring them into play meant the captain felt things were dire indeed.

Commander Gabriel said, "Sir, are you sure? We saw what happened with the quantums."

Sovaal glanced at his first officer, and then spoke to Lathrop. "Mr. Lathrop. Target the center of the mass of creatures again. This time, however, when the torpedo reaches that point, I want you to detonate it, even if there doesn't appear to be anything there, which I expect will indeed be the case. Ensign Tompkins, back us away at full impulse."

Lathrop nodded and said, "Aye, sir. Transphasic torpedo is armed."

"Moving us away, sir," said Tompkins, the nervousness in his voice clear.

"Fire," said the captain. They all watched as the single bright orange torpedo made its way toward the mass of creatures, still loosely in the shape of a larger version of the same. As expected, the mass shifted around so that the torpedo would have passed harmlessly through the now empty center. However, when the torpedo reached the designated coordinates, it erupted in a gargantuan explosion. As they watched, the mass of creatures completely dissolved as anything resembling a cohesive unit, as those creatures that hadn't been vaporized outright were forcibly expelled in every direction.

"Yes!" shouted Lathrop in triumph. "Got 'em!"

Star initially felt elated that they'd survived the battle, but her blood turned to ice as she surveyed her console. "No! We didn't! The entire swarm has turned and is now converging on the _Pegasus_! Brace for impact!" Barely had she gotten the word "impact" out of her mouth before the world turned completely upside down. She was thrown clear of her chair and landed hard on her side between it and the helm console. Sparks erupted from consoles all over the bridge and the lights went out completely, to be quickly replaced by the dimmer emergency lighting.

"Both warp and impulse engines are down!" cried out Tompkins as he tried to regain his seat at the helm console.

"Weapons are offline!" shouted Lathrop. "Shields are gone! We've got multiple hull breaches all over the ship!"

In fact, one such hull breach was opening up right there on the bridge, just above the view screen. Already, the effects of explosive decompression were playing havoc with the bridge interior. For some reason, the emergency force fields which should have automatically snapped into place at the first sign of a hull breach were not working.

"Strider!" shouted Gabriel. "Emergency force fields! Now!"

However, before she could regain her seat and manually activate the force fields, she heard a shriek of terror. Turning her head, she saw Ensign Tompkins being forcibly ripped from his seat and about to be sucked out of the widening hull breach. Once again acting before considering what she was doing, Star leapt up from the floor and hurled herself at Tompkins. Vaguely hearing the captain's stern orders for her to return to her post and get the force fields up, she ignored him and just managed to sink her teeth into one of the legs of Tompkins's pants, briefly stopping him from being expelled out into open space. However, now there was the not insignificant problem of her very quickly losing her own hold on the helm console. Not able to think of anything else to do in the seconds remaining to her, she once again unleashed her magic and brought her shield to life once again, just as she lost her grip and started to tumble out of the ship, along with Tompkins. Now, both she and the helmsman were floating in what remained of the air, roughly banging against what was left of the ceiling of the bridge. The only thing preventing them both from being sucked out to their deaths was Star's shield, as the hull breach was not yet wide enough to allow it passage, though the aliens just outside, terrifyingly visible through the breach, were clearly working to remedy that as quickly as they could. Star tried to elongate and flatten the shield to make it harder to pass through the breach (or for the aliens to get inside), at least as much as she could without crushing herself and Tompkins, but she knew it was a battle she'd lose before too long.

Over the din of the air violently evacuating itself into space around her shield, she dimly heard the captain ordering Lathrop to reroute her console to his and get the emergency force fields up immediately. Anything else that he might have said, however, was drowned out by a sudden shriek similar to the one they'd heard on the listening post, which was once again followed by the sounds of clicking and chittering. It seemed to be mostly coming through their communications system, but Star could almost swear she heard it emanating from the several aliens that were just outside of the bridge as well.

Finally, the force fields snapped into place around the hull breach and Star dropped to the floor along with Tompkins, whose pants leg she was still holding tightly in her teeth. As soon as they hit the floor, she felt her shield involuntarily wink out. The force fields were holding in what was left of the air and preventing further degradation of the hull, but Star knew it was only a very temporary reprieve. The _Pegasus_ would soon be destroyed by the aliens and there was not a single thing she or anyone else could do to prevent it. Some maiden voyage this had turned out to be. She released her grip on Tompkins as her vision began to blur and when she tried to stand up, her knees buckled and she toppled over onto her side. Star's last thoughts as she lost consciousness were apologies to her father, because she now knew that he had been absolutely right, after all. She was about to die in space, just as he had feared.

* * *

Star felt something tickling her face and her eyes fluttered open. Hovering only an inch or two above her face was the head of a large cat. Her eyes widened and she raised her head up as the face moved away from her.

"Sorry about that," said a female voice issuing out of the mouth of the large cat. "Got a bit too close there. Didn't mean to wake you. Though, to be fair, you have been out for quite a while, so it's good that you're finally awake now." Star noticed that the voice had a bit of an accent that tended to roll the Rs and lengthen the Ss more than was typical.

"Who… wha… where…?" said Star. She tried to move but found that she was being partially restrained by the monitoring equipment on the biobed upon which she was currently laying. Well, that at least answered the question of where: Sickbay.

The large cat, which Star now recognized as being a member of the Caitian species, regarded the pony for a long moment before speaking, giving Star plenty of time to study her in return. She was a bipedal humanoid but with her body covered in fur, or at least that which was visible outside of her uniform anyway, though Star knew that, like herself, the Caitian's entire body was indeed completely covered in fur even under the uniform. The unicorn idly wondered if it chafed the Caitian as much as it did her. That which was visible encompassed her head, hands, legs, and feet, given that her uniform seemed specially designed to include a skirt that ended just above her knees, but didn't include boots at all. Standard boots wouldn't have fit very well on her feline paws anyway, any more than they would have fit over Star's hooves. The uniform was otherwise the same black and gray as what everyone wore, but with a blue undershirt, indicating that the Caitian was either in the Science department or, much more likely given that this was Sickbay, the Medical department. As for her fur, it was mostly black, but mottled with specks of varying shades of gray here and there as well. The lion-like mane covering her head, however, was silver, in stark contrast to the rest of her. It ballooned out around the top of her head and her long pointed ears, but from the nape of her neck down to the small of her back, the mane was bound in a tight braid. It was a few loose strands of this which had tickled Star's nose earlier. A few centimeters below the end of the braid was the beginning of her tail, a long and slender thing the same mostly black color as the rest of her fur, except for the tuft at the end of it which was the same color as her silver mane.

"As you've probably already realized, you are in Sickbay," the Caitian finally said, after finishing studying the biobed instrument panel. "You've been out for almost two days now. And, to answer your first question last, I am Dr. M'rrre. I'm the chief medical officer for the _Pegasus_."

Star tried to wrap her mouth around the name. "Muh… Mur…"

"Don't try to say it," said the doctor. "You'll just give yourself a headache. You can simply call me Doctor Marie, as just about everyone else on the ship does."

The unicorn groaned and laid her head back on the bed. "Well, it's too late on the headache, Doctor Marie. I feel like my horn is about to detach from my head, launch itself across the room, and embed itself in the wall."

"Hmm, yeah," said M'rrre, "I was afraid that might be the case when you woke up. I have to admit that I'm not quite as familiar with pony physiology as I should be, _yet_ anyway, but I know enough to recognize that you put quite the strain on your abilities in a short time. Here, I'll give you something that will hopefully ease the headache." She took up a hypospray, checked the vial that was inserted into the end, nodded to herself that it was correct, and then placed it against Star's throat.

As the hypospray hissed and released the medication into Star's bloodstream, she felt immediate though not complete relief. "That's a lot better," she said. "Thanks."

"Need anything else?" asked the Caitian.

Star swallowed and noted that her throat was rather dry. "Could I get a glass of water, please?"

"Not a problem," said M'rrre, moving out of the unicorn's currently limited range of vision. "Be back in a sec." Star heard the buzz of a replicator, and then the doctor came back with a glass of water. She held the glass for a moment, and then frowned. "Hmm, I'm not sure exactly how to go about this, to be honest. Normally, I'd just give the glass to you, but…"

Star smiled and said, "I can take it from here." She looked at the glass of water for a moment, and then her eyes widened in alarm. "M-my magic! It's not working! Not even my basic telekinesis!"

"Uh oh," said M'rrre, frowning and looking at the instrument panel again. "This is unexpected. Has anything like this ever happened to you before?"

Star shook her head, feeling tears starting to form in her eyes. "No, it hasn't. But I have heard stories of other unicorns that overtaxed their powers. They got completely burned out and their magic was just… _gone_. Sometimes it would come back in a few hours, but sometimes it took days... or longer. S-sometimes it… it n-never came back."

Dr. M'rrre tried to be as consoling as she could, though she knew she was pretty much out of her element when it came to things like pony magic. "Don't worry, Ensign Strider. I'm sure you'll be right as rain in no time."

"You don't understand, doctor," said Star, trying her best to keep the hitch out of her voice. "I'm practically an invalid now. I can still walk around and such, but… I'm a _unicorn_, not an earth pony or a pegasus who has had a lifetime of practice manipulating things with my mouth and hooves! If my magic doesn't come back, I… I'll be almost completely useless! I mean… I could probably still manage to function at a basic level back home in Equestria, but as a Starfleet officer I'd be finished… before I've barely even started." And there it was, despite her best efforts, the hitch in her throat that was threatening to turn into a full blown sob.

The Caitian looked at the pony with nothing but compassion in her eyes. "You're _not_ an invalid, Ensign Strider… Star. May I call you Star?" The unicorn gave a slight nod. "Well, Star, we'll get you through this, one way or another. Here, have a drink of water. I know this is a bit awkward, but…" She held the glass to Star's lips and slowly tilted it up to allow the unicorn to drink from it, before finally setting it aside.

Star swallowed the water and took a few deep breaths, deciding that the doctor was right. Her momentary panic subsided. Either her magic would come back or it wouldn't, but she wasn't going to lay around feeling sorry for herself. If it came to it, she'd learn to live as the earth ponies did. She'd burned herself out protecting her fellow shipmates, and if permanently losing her magic and having to leave Starfleet was the price she had to pay, then so be it. At that thought, however, something else occurred to her. "Um," she said, "this might sound a bit strange, but… how are we not all dead now? The last thing I remember is the ship being on the verge of destruction by those horrifying aliens that were attacking us."

Dr. M'rrre tilted her head to the side. "That's still a bit of a mystery. What I know is that just when it seemed like all was lost, the aliens sent out a broadcast of some sort that was heard all throughout the ship. However, the transmission didn't originate from the aliens that were swarming the _Pegasus_. From what I understand, some sort of dimensional rift appeared in space a short distance from the ship, and that is where the signal came from. The aliens immediately stopped attacking, detached themselves from our hull, and flew through the rift, which closed behind them. We haven't seen them since. We're running the transmission through the universal translators, hoping to make some sense of it, but so far they're not having much luck. The main computer was damaged pretty badly during the attack, along with everything else on the ship."

The edges of Star's mouth curled downward. "So how bad is it, overall?"

The doctor sighed. "All in all, pretty bad. Most of the injuries aside from your own have been patched up, at least as well as they will be until we can get back to the starbase, but we lost thirty-seven members of the crew in the attack. Fortunately, it was only the bridge force fields that malfunctioned when the hull ruptures started to occur, or else that number would have been a lot higher. It was almost thirty-nine, even so, if what Ensign Tompkins says is true. He has been repeatedly telling everyone within earshot the grand story of how you saved his life on the bridge. For that matter, it's a wonder that he isn't here right now, in fact. He's been at your bedside almost constantly since the attack, but I guess the lack of sleep finally got to him."

Star felt somewhat uncomfortable as she considered this. "He… has? Really?"

M'rrre looked a bit confused by this. "You seem less than thrilled by that."

The unicorn shook her head and sighed. "Well, I'm not sure what to think, to be honest. It's just that… um… I think he's a bit… er… infatuated with me."

"Really now," replied the Caitian, raising an eyebrow. "Do tell." As Star told her of the encounter she'd had with the young human ensign in the lounge, M'rrre nodded and said, "Yes, I'd thought that the two of you were just close friends, but I think you might be right. Well, even if he wasn't before, it certainly seems like he might be now. And this makes you feel uncomfortable, does it?"

Star nodded. "Yeah, it does. I mean, it's kind of flattering and all, but…"

"You just don't feel the same way about him, I take it," said M'rrre.

"No," said Star, with another sigh. "I like him well enough as a friend, I guess, at least based on what little I know about him. It's just that it seems like he might have had these feelings for me even before I actually met him, at least judging from how he was talking about seeing me at the Academy and such. And then, when he started talking about… um… my flank... it was more than a little embarrassing. For both of us."

"This could be something of a problem, then," said M'rrre, clicking her tongue. "Well, I don't know what to tell you, really, except to try to let him down easy. He really does seem like a nice enough young human, and I'd hate to see him hurt too much. If you want, I could speak to him on your behalf."

The unicorn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "No… I'll handle it myself. If it comes to that, I'll try my best to make it as painless as I can. Like I said, I don't dislike him… I just don't… _like_ him, at least not in that way." She shook her head and decided to change the subject entirely. "So how is the ship itself? I'm guessing we're headed back to Deep Space Twenty for repairs?"

Dr. M'rrre nodded. "We are, though not under our own power. The warp engines are still down. They got the impulse drive back up, barely, for what good that does since it would have taken us years to get back to the starbase under impulse power. As of now, we are being towed back to DS20 by the USS _Crazy Horse_. We should be there in about a day or so."

Star raised an eyebrow. "Wait… seriously?"

"What is it?" asked M'rrre in confusion.

"The _Crazy Horse_?" asked Star, with a slight smirk. "The _Pegasus_ is being towed by the _Crazy Horse_."

"Yes, that's right," said the doctor, still confused. "I don't understa-" Then a look of dawning comprehension came over her face. "Ah. Heh heh. Yeah, I suppose I can see why that might be particularly amusing to you."

Star chuckled and started to reply, but was cut off when a voice from someone outside of her field of view said, "Doctor M'rrre, would you please excuse us for a moment? I would like to have a word with Ensign Strider in private."

The Caitian turned her head to look at someone standing behind Star's bed and said, "Yes, Captain." Turning back to Star, she added, "I'll be in my office if you need me." Star watched as the doctor made her way over to her glass walled office, just before the view was blocked by another moving to take the Caitian's place.

Captain Sovaal, the Vulcan commanding officer of the USS _Pegasus_, regarded her coolly. He had black hair in the same short-cropped hairstyle that was favored by his people, which accentuated his pointed ears. He seemed somewhat young for one of his species, but Star knew that looks could be deceiving when it came to Vulcans. He could be well over one hundred years old, for all she knew, and it was likely that he was.

"Ensign Strider," he said, finally. "It is good to see you awake. I trust that you are doing well, relatively speaking?"

"I'm feeling okay," said Star, a bit nervously. This was the first time that the captain had spoken to her, at least in a non-emergency setting, anyway. "Well, my magic is burned out and we don't know when… or if… it will return, but aside from that…"

"That is unfortunate to hear," said Sovaal. "It is, however, the use of your magic that I came to discuss, at least in part. First of all, I wish to commend you for saving the life of Ensign Tompkins as well as those of the away team." Star started to smile as the captain spoke, but that smile froze and then faded completely at his next words. "However, there is an issue of some concern that I must address. On two separate occasions, once during the away mission and once again on the bridge, you abandoned your post to act independently, ignoring direct orders from both myself and Commander Gabriel. What do you have to say for yourself? Permission to speak freely granted."

"I…" said Star, suddenly finding herself all but completely tongue-tied. "I…" She paused and took a deep breath before trying again. "In the first instance, I knew that the force fields were a lost cause, and if I hadn't acted as I did, the away team would have been overrun. In the second instance, I responded instinctively to Tompkins's cry as he was being pulled out of the ship. M-my actions saved his life, sir."

"Be that as it may," said the Vulcan, "you still disobeyed direct orders to raise the emergency force fields. Had you promptly acted as instructed, they would have been in place before Tompkins was in danger of being pulled from the ship. Ensign Strider, I acknowledge that your actions resulted in saving lives in both cases, which is again commendable. However, there is no guarantee that such impulsive behavior will have similarly favorable results in the future. I will refrain from putting an official reprimand on your record for disobeying my direct orders in this instance, but from now on, I expect you to consider your actions more carefully before you decide to ignore me or other superior officers. Is that clear?"

Star looked at the captain for a bit before answering. Trying to keep the whimper out of her voice, she meekly nodded and said, "Y-yes, sir."

Sovaal nodded in return. "Then we have an understanding. Now, I should inform you that we will be arriving at Deep Space Twenty in approximately nineteen hours. I estimate that the repairs to the _Pegasus_ will take at least a full two weeks to complete. As such, I am giving all non-essential personnel a temporary furlough while the ship is in dry dock. Given that Deep Space Twenty is in orbit around your homeworld of Equus III, this will give you an opportunity to visit your home and family, if you wish."

Star tried to keep her face as impassive as she possibly could. "Thank you, sir," was all she said in response.

"Then I will leave you to your recovery," said the Vulcan. "Given your condition, you are officially relieved of duty as of this moment. Report back to me in fifteen days. If your situation still remains unchanged at that point in time, we will evaluate what your role as a member of this crew will be then." With that, he turned and made for the exit of Sickbay.

Almost before the captain had even reached the doorway, Dr. M'rrre was back at Star's bedside once more. She was glaring after the departing Vulcan, a look of anger clearly etched into her feline facial features. She waited until the captain was completely out of the room before cutting loose. "I can't believe he did that," she said, her hands balled into fists at her sides and her tail whipping back in forth in agitation. "You've only just awakened. He could have at least waited until you were out of the biobed. How in the _hell_ did he even know you were awake to begin with?" Star was shocked at the doctor's demeanor, and this must have been evident by the look on her face, because the doctor added, "He forgets that Caitian ears are better by far than even Vulcan ones. I heard every word he said." She turned to face the unicorn more fully and said, "I'm sorry. I really shouldn't be speaking ill of the captain behind his back like this, but I often feel that some of the things he does, based on that blasted Vulcan logic, is just pure ice. I've served with Captain Sovaal for about twelve years, and you'd think I'd be used to this sort of thing by now, but apparently not."

Star shook her head, partly still in shock at the doctor's anger and partly in response to how she'd felt while the captain dressed her down earlier. "Captain Sovaal doesn't like me very much, does he?" she said softly.

M'rrre smirked and said, "No, he doesn't." At the look on Star's face, the Caitian chuckled and added, "However, he doesn't _dis_like you, either. He's a Vulcan, remember? They have no real use for 'liking' and 'disliking' people in that way. That said, however, you do seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot with him. Don't feel too bad about it. And yet, he must like you at least a _little_, considering he didn't even bother to give you a formal reprimand. He's quite the stickler for rules and regulations, as I'm sure you'll realize for yourself soon enough, if you haven't already. For what it's worth, I was almost afraid he was going to have _me_ thrown in the brig after one of our more… heated discussions. It's a long story. I might even tell it to you someday."

Star was reeling, still trying to process everything that had occurred in the past few minutes. "I thought I was doing the right thing. Sure, I did disobey his orders, but if I hadn't grabbed Tompkins, he would have…"

"Don't worry so much about it," said M'rrre. "What's done is done, and if you ask me, I think you did the right thing, orders be damned. Just… don't tell the captain I said that, okay?"

"I… I won't," said the unicorn.

Dr. M'rrre nodded and gave the unicorn a lopsided smile. "Thank you. I don't need another reprimand from him on my record." She considered the pony for a bit longer, and then added, "There is one thing he said that I do agree with, however."

"What's that?" asked Star.

"You should go home and visit with your family and friends while you have the opportunity," said the doctor. "You never know when you'll have the chance to do so again. Had this mission gone as planned, it probably would have been several months at least before you had this chance."

Star once again felt conflicting emotions battling for control of the features on her face, and tried to keep them as still as possible.

"All right," said the Caitian, crossing her arms in front of her. "There's something clearly troubling you about the idea of going home. What's wrong?"

Star sighed and turned her eyes away from the doctor. "I… well… things didn't go so well the last time I saw my parents. We had a terrible argument. I feel horrible about it now, but I haven't had a chance to make things right with them, and… I don't know if I'm ready to face them again."

Dr. M'rrre nodded sympathetically and said, "Family trouble. I can understand that. How long has it been since you were last at home?"

Star looked back at the doctor in a bit of embarrassment. "Well… it was right before I left to attend Starfleet Academy."

The Caitian's mouth dropped open in shock, allowing Star a nice view of her long, sharp teeth. "You mean you haven't been home at all in over _four years_?"

The unicorn slowly and reluctantly shook her head in the negative.

"Even though you were just a short thirty minute shuttle ride through the portal away from them?" asked the doctor incredulously.

Star silently shook her head a second time.

"Have you at least called them at all?" asked M'rrre.

Star shook her head again, knowing that the doctor must think she was awful.

"Have they called you?" asked the doctor.

Star shrugged and turned her eyes away again. "They… _might_ have left a message or two during the first year… that I deleted in a fit of anger and immaturity without even listening to them. Eventually, they stopped trying. And by that point, I didn't feel right about trying to call them myself."

Dr. M'rrre just stared at the unicorn for several moments in exasperation, and then shook her head. "Well, that settles it."

Star blinked and looked back at the doctor. "It does? Wait, settles what?"

In a firm, no nonsense tone of voice, the Caitian doctor said, "When we get back to Deep Space Twenty, you are going to beam down to that planet and you are going to visit your family. You are to heal the rift between you and your parents at the same time you heal your body and magic. You can consider that to be the prescription from your doctor, as well as a direct order from a superior officer, one which I hope you won't decide to disobey this time. I don't even care if you're technically on leave now."

Star stared at M'rrre for several seconds, and then nodded meekly. "Yes, doctor. I'll… do what I can. Honestly, I know I've been avoiding this for _far_ too long."

"Well, now you no longer have an excuse," said the doctor. She gave the instrument panel on the biobed one last, long look, and then pressed a button on the side, causing the panel to retract into the sides of the bed. "Also, I no longer have an excuse to keep you cooped up in Sickbay, so I'll release you now. But I expect to see you bright and early tomorrow morning. I'll be seeing you down to the planet myself."

The unicorn raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is… is that really necessary? Do you really think I'm going to try to skip out on it?"

M'rrre shook her head. "No, I don't, not really. It's just… well… you seem like a good kid, Star, and I like you. You kind of remind me of me when I was your age. I didn't always have the best relationship with my own parents, so I do know how that can be. What I also know, though, is that once we finally got over our issues and worked things out, it was one of the best feelings in the galaxy. Trust me. I'm sure it'll all work out for you in the end."

Star smiled and said, "I hope you're right, Doctor Marie."

"I _know_ I'm right," said the Caitian, returning the smile. "Now go on. Get out of here. There's nothing more I can do for you here, so just try to get some rest in your quarters or something until we get to DS20."

* * *

"_Personal log. Ensign Star Strider. Stardate 66049.15_

"…

"…

"_Well, this day certainly ended far more differently than I could have ever imagined. Actually, no, it's not even the same day anymore, given that I was apparently unconscious for almost two days._

"_It's been several hours since I regained consciousness in Sickbay. I told myself I wasn't going to just lie around and feel sorry for myself, but despite that, I haven't really done much aside from mope around in my quarters. It kind of sucks, though, because all the holo-emitters have been taken offline to conserve power, so I'm stuck with the boring, gray, Starfleet default quarters again._

"_I did make a trip down to the lounge to try to shake things up a bit, but I ran into Ensign Tompkins while I was there. He seemed even more bashful around me than he was during our first encounter and didn't really say much at all, partially due to his horror and guilt at the news that I'd burned out my magic while saving him, though I tried to assure him it wasn't his fault… and partially due to… well… you know. Anyway, it was a good thing that he was so quiet, since I wasn't really in much of a mood to talk to him either. As I finally got up to leave, however, he stammered out an invitation for me to join him for a drink at some bar somewhere on Deep Space Twenty, once we get there. It seems harmless enough and, to be honest, I could use an excuse to put off heading down to the planet itself for a bit longer. I'm sure Doctor Marie won't mind a small delay, much. Don't get me wrong. I have no intention of stringing him along or toying with his apparent affections for me. It's just that I… well… I simply don't have the stamina to deal with all of this right now. We'll see how things go tomorrow, though. I might have to deal with it, regardless._

"…

"…

"_So I listened to my previous log just before starting on this one, and my mood couldn't have been any more the polar opposite then to what it is now. I was so excited before, but now…_

"_A strange new alien threat that nobody has ever seen before… the ship almost destroyed on its maiden voyage… my magic gone… a dressing down by the captain for disobeying orders… and, most distressingly… I have to go home now._

"_Though I miss my parents terribly, I still don't look forward to it. I mean, what am I going to say to them after so long? What _can_ I say after so long? After the ugliness that passed between us? And the worst part of it is that Doctor Marie was wrong. I _do_ have an excuse to put this off for a bit longer, and it's actually a valid one this time. No, I'm not talking about Tompkins's invitation to that bar, either. You see, I can't actually go back home now even if I _wanted_ to. Not directly, anyway. There's somepony else I'm going to have to visit before I can even _think_ about going home again, and the thought of _that_ reunion is almost as intimidating as the one with my mom and dad._

"_I… I really don't know what the future holds for me anymore. Things can change in the blink of an eye. All I can do is move forward, one hoof at a time, and face what comes. Will I be up to the challenge? That remains to be seen, I guess. Without my magic, I just don't know."_

* * *

To be continued…


	2. Pilot Episode - Part 2

The homeworld of the Equestrian ponies floated in serene orbit around its star. The star, officially dubbed Equus by Federation star charters in honor of the dominant species living on the third planet, had eight other planets in its system. The star, however, didn't care that one of its nine children was teeming with life, any more than the third planet itself cared that it had gained a second child of its own within the past twenty years. Luna's moon was no longer alone in its orbit around the planet, for it was joined by a smaller sibling: a massive Federation starbase.

Deep Space Twenty, the station was called. It was the identical twin of the Earth Spacedock, sharing the mushroom shape of its distant sibling in the Alpha Quadrant. Actually, there was some debate as to whether DS20 was the farthest or closest of the deep space stations. On one hand, it was almost fifty thousand light years away from the heart of the Federation, if one judged by straight line distance, making it by far the most distant in that respect. On the other hand, it was a short thirty minute flight by sub-light shuttle between Equus III and Sol III, thanks to the portal that connected the two planets.

The primary purpose of DS20 was to act as a headquarters for ships operating in this sector of space. It also acted as a dry dock for repairing such ships as necessary. It was this secondary purpose that was required for the time being, for one of its own was badly injured and in dire need of succor.

The USS _Crazy Horse_ disengaged her tractor beams from the USS _Pegasus_ and then made her way for the portal to Earth, her current task completed and a new one awaiting her somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant. The _Pegasus_ limped the final short distance to DS20 under her own power. She would be enfolded in the protective embrace of the starbase soon, and then the healing could finally begin in earnest.

* * *

_**Star Trek: Pegasus**_

"Pilot Episode – Part 2"

By Kane Magus

* * *

"_Personal log. Ensign Star Strider. Stardate 66050.29_

"_It's morning. I feel like my head only just touched my pillow a few minutes ago, but the computer tells me that it has apparently been ten hours. I think the computer might be lying, but I can't be sure. I don't know why the computer would hate me enough to play such an evil prank, though, so I'm going to have to assume for now that it's actually telling me the truth._

"_Needless to say, because I'm sure anyone listening to this will be able to tell just from the sound of my voice, but I'm going to say it anyway: I don't feel any better than I did last night. At all. I had trouble escaping from the bed sheets that had somehow gotten entangled in my legs because, as I feared, my magic is still gone. I don't know if I will ever get used to that feeling, no matter how long it may last… and it may end up lasting the rest of my life._

"_As I look out my window, I see that the _Pegasus_ is minutes away from docking at Deep Space Twenty. It's shortly after 0830 hours, so I suppose I should get out of bed soon. I did promise Ensign Tompkins that I would meet him for a drink at that bar of his, after all. I briefly considered cancelling this… date, for lack of a better word, but that would just mean that I would have to beam down to the planet all the sooner. I'm actually a bit thankful for this small reprieve, even if it means potentially giving Tompkins the wrong idea about how I feel about him or about our relationship… whatever that relationship may be. I consider him a friend, but I get the distinct impression that he's hoping for something… more than that. In any case, I have invited Doctor Marie to join us on our excursion, to serve as something of a chaperone for us, given that she had been planning to see me off anyway. I don't really expect Tompkins to try anything… inappropriate, as he's way too bashful for that I think, but it doesn't hurt to have some support just in case, and the Caitian doctor is a rather formidable presence. I have decided that I like her, and I think she likes me well enough too, but I'm not sure we could quite be considered friends, yet. I'm just an ensign and she's a lieutenant commander, after all. With time, I think we could be, though. I hope so. Perhaps this little bar trip will help with that._

"_As for this bar we're supposed to be going to… Tompkins tells me that it is run by a Ferengi. Strange, I thought this was DS20, not DS9. But apparently, it's true. How a Ferengi got a job as a bartender on a purely Federation starbase, I have no idea. Well, maybe I'll find out when I get there. Then again, talking with a Ferengi is pretty close to the top of my 'Things I Really Don't Want To Do Today' list. I think I'll let Tompkins or Doctor Marie handle ordering any drinks._

"_As for what comes after all of that, though… I don't know what I'm going to do. My current plan, such as it is, is to just beam down to Ponyville and then… well… like I said, I just don't know. I'm probably going to simply wander around for a while… see where I end up. I do have a final destination, but I'm going to avoid that for as long as is reasonable… and possibly a bit longer. And then, once my business is finished in Ponyville, it's onward to Cloudsdale. One way or another, things are never going to be the same for me after I get there. I just hope it all works out in the end._

"_Well, the _Pegasus_ just passed through the doors of the docking bay, so I guess I should finally try to force myself out of this bed and back out into the real world again."_

* * *

Star Strider walked alongside Ensign Jim Tompkins and Doctor M'rrre as they made their way through the bustle of travelers on the mercantile deck of the starbase. It was a large, brightly lit concourse, lined on either side, and often in the middle, by a wide variety of stores, restaurants, and recreational facilities. The three of them mostly remained quiet as they ambled toward their destination.

M'rrre had been a bit hesitant to join them at first, mainly because she initially thought that Star should take care of this issue with Tompkins sooner rather than later, and preferably on her own. However, the pleading look on Star's face finally won her over. For his part, Tompkins didn't seem too put off by having another companion, though he didn't seem particularly thrilled by it either.

They approached the door of the bar and were just about to head through when Star suddenly stopped in her tracks. She'd glanced at a sign posted on the wall next to the door as they walked by it, but then had done a double-take and was now backing up to get a better look at the sign. As she read the sign, she could see Tompkins grinning at her out of the corner of her eye.

"I was hoping you'd like that," he said, as though he were giving her a Hearth's Warming gift. In a way, it _was_ a gift. When she glanced at him, his smile got bigger and he added, "What? Did you think I was bringing you here just for the Ferengi bartender?"

Star turned back to look at the sign again. In smaller letters near the top, it said, "Brunt's Bar Proudly Presents:" Then, in enormous lettering in the middle, it said, "THE DULCET DUO: DJ PON-3 AND OCTAVIA!" Accompanying this was a picture of two ponies with whom Star was most familiar, at least by reputation anyway, though she had never met them directly. Beneath the picture, in even smaller print than at the top, was the phrase "For a limited time only." And lastly, below that, was a listing of various menu items and their associated prices in gold-pressed latinum. Federation credits were not accepted, apparently.

The grin on Star's face was wide enough to fly a starship through. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?" she said turning back to Tompkins again. "I could have been looking _forward_ to this, rather than… well… kind of dreading it, actually. Aw man, this is so _cool!_ I have every one of their albums on holotape. All the shows they did on Earth while I was in the Academy… the Sydney Opera House… Carnegie Hall… Madison Square Garden… I made it a point to go to every single one of them and to sit as close to front row center as I could get. Seriously, this is amazingly awesome. But… why the _hay_ are they doing shows in a Ferengi-owned bar on a starbase? That makes no sense at all. And how have I not heard of this before now?!" In her exuberance, Star had completely failed to notice how Tompkins's face had fallen slightly at her thoughtless use of the word "dreading."

Dr. M'rrre, however, had been more observant, as she quickly said, "Let's head on in, shall we? I could do with some tea, I think." With that, the three Starfleet officers approached the door and, when it slid open, were immediately assaulted by sound. Star's grin got even bigger and her ears perked forward, whereas M'rrre's ears flattened back against her head. The Caitian bared her teeth slightly in distaste.

As they made their way over to the few remaining open seats, which were at the bar itself rather than any of the tables on the floor, Star turned her eyes to the stage. There they were, just as she had seen them in countless holotapes and at live shows over the past ten years or so. Standing to the left on her hind legs and supporting herself against a cello was a light gray earth pony with a long, darker gray mane and tail and the cutie mark of a purple treble clef. To the right was a white unicorn with a striking, spiked-out, blue/cyan striped mane and tail. She was wearing large purple-tinted shades as well. Her cutie mark currently wasn't visible behind the large electronic booth that the pony was operating, but Star knew it to be a black double quaver.

The music was a unique blend of Octavia's cello and DJ Pon-3's various styles of techno, depending on the mood of the song being played. Star knew that it really shouldn't work, but somehow it just did, and very well at that. Most everypony back home who heard it thought so, and the duo's fame had long since started to spread off-planet as well. Apparently not everyone was a fan, however, as Star noticed that Dr. M'rrre kept her ears pressed back against her head and was continually grimacing.

"I'm _so_ glad you invited me along for this, Ensign Strider," said the Caitian, having to speak loudly to make herself heard, even though Star was sitting right next to her. "Whoever wrote that sign out there really knows what the word 'dulcet' means, that's for certain." The biting sarcasm in her voice was enough to make the unicorn wince slightly. So much for using this as an opportunity to befriend the doctor, Star thought to herself with no small disappointment. M'rrre noted the look on Star's face and said, "Wait… don't tell me you actually _enjoy_ this cacophony."

Star smiled in slight embarrassment and said, "Well… like I said, I do have every one of their albums and have been to just about all of their live shows."

M'rrre just rolled her eyes, feeling thankful that the song, if one could even call it that, seemed to be ending. Her relief was short lived, however.

"**SO HOW ARE YOU GUYS ENJOYING THIS FINE MORNING?!**" shouted the white unicorn, her voice projecting loudly throughout the large room. At the buzz in response from the crowd, DJ Pon-3 yelled, "**I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I SAID, HOW ARE YOU GUYS ENJOYING THIS FINE MORNING?!**" The buzz of the crowd grew louder in response.

"Speaking as a medical practitioner," muttered M'rrre, "my diagnosis for the reason she can't hear is because she's probably all but completely deaf by now."

"Oh come on, doctor," said Tompkins lightly, looking at her over Star's head. "It's not all _that_ bad, is it?" He quickly decided to find something else to occupy his vision when he saw the death glare the Caitian was giving him.

The gray earth pony said, in a voice that seemed almost too soft to be heard, yet which also managed to project throughout the room, "We have one more song for you in our morning set." The crowd groaned in disapproval at the fact that the show was almost over. "Don't worry," said Octavia in response. "We'll be back this evening with our next show. But for now, without further ado, here is a piece I like to call 'Serenity.'"

They started playing something that, to Star at least, sounded rather more subdued than their normal oeuvre. It was quite tranquil, relatively speaking. It made her want to forget all the worries she'd been having over the past day or two. She glanced at the doctor to see if she at least enjoyed this one a little better.

"Ugh," said the Caitian. "There's nothing 'serene' about that, at all. The cello is nice enough, I suppose, but the rest…"

Tompkins, looking for an excuse to both get away from the crabby doctor and to also have a chance to talk to Star alone, said, "Hey, look, a table just opened up there near the stage. Want to go grab it and get a better view of the show?"

Star nodded and said, "Yeah, I'd love to." She turned to look at the doctor. "You want to join us?"

M'rrre looked at the unicorn as though she were certifiable. "No, I think this is plenty close enough for me. You kids run along and enjoy the show. I need a drink, and _now_." The doctor noted the relief in Tompkins's face at her refusal to join them, but didn't comment on it. She watched as they gave her one last look, and then moved away to the empty table. The Caitian turned to the bar, behind which an absolutely miserable looking Ferengi bartender was standing, his hands pressed tightly against his ears. Unfortunately for him, unlike the Caitian, he was not able to fold his ears back.

"Aren't they just _wonderful!_" said the bartender thickly, grinning far too widely as he noticed the doctor looking at him. He moved closer and, most reluctantly, removed his hands from his ears in order to more easily talk to her.

"How and, more importantly, _why_ do you withstand such… entertainment as that?" asked M'rrre. "You clearly appear to like it about as well as I do."

"Do you see that crowd out there?" said the Ferengi, looking at her incredulously. "Even your friends are enthralled. They're happy, and when they're happy, they buy more drinks. When they buy drinks, _I'm_ happy. I can put up with a little permanent hearing loss for that."

"And let me guess," said the doctor, "you also make a pretty piece of latinum from those who were dragged here by their friends and who wish to try to drown out the noise with heavy drinking, is that right?"

The Ferengi smiled toothily and nodded. "There is that as well. My name is Brunt, by the way. Speaking of drinking heavily, what can I get for you?"

M'rrre sighed and said, "I'll have an herbal tea, please."

"Any particular herbs you have in mind?" asked Brunt, with a knowing look.

The Caitian glanced back over her shoulder at the stage, shook her head in exasperation, and then said, "In this case? I think I'll go with some _Nepeta cataria_." She placed a slip of gold-pressed latinum into his waiting palm.

The Ferengi gave her an odd look. "Very well, though I don't normally keep that in stock. I'll have to replicate it first."

"Fine, fine," said M'rrre, nodding impatiently and dropping another slip of latinum into his still extended hand. "Just make it quick, please." As the Ferengi bowed to her shallowly and moved away to make her drink, the doctor turned to watch her two companions. She had a feeling that something was about to happen as far as the little problem Ensign Strider had discussed with her yesterday was concerned.

At first, the human and the pony just watched the show, but then Ensign Tompkins turned his head toward Strider. Even with her superior hearing, M'rrre couldn't hear what he was saying, especially given that the music was almost drowning out her very thoughts, let alone any other sounds in the room more than just a meter or so away from her. Strider turned her head toward the human in response to whatever he'd said. For a moment, they just looked at one another, and then Tompkins said something else, leaning toward her a bit as he spoke. Strider didn't respond to this, though she did continue looking at the human. The unicorn had a sort of "deer in headlights" look on her face, to use an old Earth phrase that M'rrre had heard once or twice before. Tompkins spoke again, and at this Strider finally said something in reply. After a few more moments of what seemed to M'rrre like awkward silence (relatively speaking), Tompkins spoke again, slowly reaching out a hand toward the pony as he did so. Strider looked at his hand, and then lowered her head and shook it slowly. Then she looked back into his eyes and spoke again. Tompkins face assumed an expression similar to what he'd probably wear if he'd been kicked in the gut. He withdrew his hand and let it drop to the table. Strider said something else, and Tompkins nodded in response, looking down at the table as he did so. Strider spoke yet again, this time with a somewhat concerned expression appearing on her face. Tompkins looked up at her and smiled wanly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. He said one last thing as the song began to wind down, though it didn't seem to assuage the unicorn's worry much.

As the song finally ended, unheard by either of them at this point, M'rrre's two companions rose from the table and made their way back in her direction. A lot of the others in the bar started to make their exit now that the show was over, thinning out the room considerably. Just before the doctor's companions rejoined her, the Ferengi bartender returned with her drink. M'rrre nodded at him, took a rather large swig from it, and then turned back to her approaching colleagues.

When the two ensigns reached her, Tompkins nodded at the Caitian, a cloudy expression on his face, and said, "I'm sorry, Doctor, but I'm not feeling well right now. I think I'll return to the ship and help with repairs."

Knowing that what was ailing him lay beyond her talents, the doctor ignored the slight contradiction and simply nodded. After he shuffled out of the bar without giving either of them a second look, M'rrre turned to the pony, who had resumed her seat next to the doctor, and said, "I take it that didn't go as well as you would've liked."

Star sighed and shook her head. "No, it didn't. When he finally made his feelings unmistakably clear to me, I tried to be as polite about it as I could possibly be, but he didn't seem to take my response very well, regardless. I told him I still wanted to be friends, if he was willing, and he seemed to accept that, but… I don't know. I'm honestly a little bit worried about him now."

"I hate to sound overly callous," said the Caitian doctor, "but it's not really your problem anymore. He'll have to work this out on his own or, failing that, seek advice from the ship's counselor. Thankfully, that's not me. I already feel like I'm stepping on Counselor Zobraff's toes as it is, to be honest with you. So, with that said, my last piece of advice to you as acting ship's relationship counselor is that I think you should just give him some space, at least for the time being."

"That's going to be pretty difficult," said Star. "We're both bridge officers after all, so we'll be seeing a lot of each other in that respect. I hope this doesn't interfere with our duties at all."

Dr. M'rrre raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you forgetting something?" When the unicorn looked up at the Caitian in confusion, the latter said, "You do recall that you have direct orders from a superior officer, namely me, to beam down to the planet and spend the next two weeks there recuperating, do you not?"

The unicorn opened her mouth as if about to say something, and then closed it again. She shook her head. "No, sir, I haven't forgotten."

"Well," said the doctor, "while you're down there, I don't want you to worry about Tompkins at all. You can't do anything for him at the moment anyway. I'm sure in the two weeks he'll have away from you, he'll be able to get himself sorted out. If not… well, we'll deal with that when it comes. But for now, I want you to put him out of your mind as best as you can."

Star was about to respond when the two stools next to her were filled up. Star idly glanced in their direction, but then nearly toppled off of her own stool when she saw who it was. It was _them_! Octavia was sitting right next to her with DJ Pon-3 just a single stool away. They weren't paying her any attention, however. They seemed to have more important business to deal with at the moment.

"Hey, Brunt!" said the white unicorn loudly. "Get your oversized lobes over here, right now. We have a bone to pick with you."

The Ferengi bartender casually made his way over to them and regarded them with the slimiest expression that Star had ever seen. "May I help you, ladies? Would you care for a drink?"

"Cut the crap, you little troll!" said DJ Pon-3, leaning forward over the bar to get in his face. "What we'd 'care for' is you paying us for the last two week's worth of gigs we performed here."

"Now, now, my dear," said Brunt, taking a step back and giving her a big toothy grin. "Don't be so impatient. You'll get your latinum soon enough. Don't worry."

"Oh, I'm not worried," said the DJ, leaning back again. "You're the one who should be worried. Either you pay us, and right now, or we'll make that 'for a limited time' horse apples you have on the sign out there come true sooner than you think."

"Now just a minute!" said Brunt, suddenly flustered. "We have a contract!"

Octavia chose this moment to break in. "Calm down, Vinyl. I'm sure the three of us can work out a suitable arrangement."

"Yes, I'm sure we can," said Brunt nervously, but regaining his composure. "Listen to your partner."

Vinyl Scratch, aka DJ Pon-3, was just getting started, however. "And another thing, you toad, we've been scouting out other locations, some of them even right here on DS20, and they're willing to pay us up to double what you're paying us. You're currently paying us two hundred strips of gold-pressed latinum per week to perform here. So, here's what I suggest: you pay us what you owe us _and_ raise that to four hundred for future gigs, or we walk _today_, contract or no contract!"

"What nonsense! Why should I pay you a single slip more?!" shouted Brunt angrily. "If anything, I'm already doing you a favor by paying you as much as I am! You honestly think I believe anyone else would pay you even half of what I do to have you foul the air with your noise pollution?! Seriously, to think that any self respecting sapient creature could actually _enjoy_ that horrible dissonance you call music makes me die a little on the inside. More specifically, on the inside of my ear tubes."

Vinyl shrugged. "Well then, if that's how you feel about it... Come on, Tavi. Let's go pay a visit to Martus Mazur on the upper deck. I hear he has an opening for a musical act at his place. It certainly has to be better than _this_ dive. Maybe he'll come up with a better name for us than the 'Dulcet Duo.' Ugh, I hate that name _so much_."

"Wait!" shouted Brunt. "You can't just walk out of here!"

"Oh yeah?" shouted Vinyl in return, rising from her seat. "Just watch us!"

"Vinyl, please," said Octavia, "don't be so hasty. Let's hear what our friend here has to offer." Vinyl reluctantly lowered herself back down onto the stool.

Brunt was sweating bullets by this point. "Well, I… I suppose I could raise your rate to two twenty-five."

Vinyl heartily laughed in his face. Octavia, on the other hand, remained calm. "That won't do, I'm afraid, Mr. Brunt. What do you say about three ninety-five?"

"Three… three ninety-five?" said Brunt incredulously. "That's still robbery of the worst sort! Two fifty."

"Three ninety," countered Octavia.

"Are you serious?!" said Brunt. "You're really serious, aren't you? I'm offering you a fifty strip raise here! Oh, all right, three hundred. Surely that is reasonable?"

Octavia shook her head. "Three eighty-five."

Brunt's eyes were bulging out of his head by this point. "You're killing me here. This is murder. I should call security and charge you for murder! Argh, by the Blessed Exchequer… all right, three fifty."

Octavia raised an eyebrow. "Three eighty."

"This is _outrageous_!" said Brunt, slamming his hands down on the counter. "I was one of the chief liquidators for the Ferengi Commerce Authority! _I was Grand Nagus!_ It's bad enough having to deal with all these uppity, self-righteous hew-mons, but you prima donna poh-nees are the absolute worst!"

"Unless my sources were lying," said the gray earth pony, her voice as cool as ice, "you were only _acting_ Grand Nagus, and only for a few short days at that. Another thing that my sources have uncovered is that your claims to be 'close, personal friends' of Grand Nagus Rom were… to put it diplomatically… _somewhat exaggerated_. The way I hear it, you were lucky to be granted this establishment on DS20 at all. It seems that Grand Nagus Rom felt sorry for you and pulled some strings to get you this job. Also, from what I hear, without us to draw in your customers, you would have already been out of business years ago. Come now, Mr. Brunt. Be reasonable. Are you really willing to risk throwing all of this away just to save a few strips of latinum?"

"You presume much, poh-nee," said Brunt, narrowing his eyes. "This place will be perfectly fine, with or without you. In fact, I-"

"What a load!" said Vinyl Scratch, making as if to get up and leave again. "Come on, Tavi, let's get outta here. His voice is giving me a migraine."

"Wait!" shouted Brunt. "Wait! All right! Three seventy-five, but not a single solitary slip more than that!"

"Thank you, Mr. Brunt," said Octavia. "Now we just need your thumbprint on this, and our business will be concluded. Vinyl?"

The unicorn levitated a small PADD over to the Ferengi. Brunt snatched it out of the magical field, gave it a cursory glance, and pressed his thumb against it. Looking as though doing this had drained him of all energy, he glared at Octavia and Vinyl Scratch. "There, I hope you're happy. You're driving me into destitution, but as long as you poh-nees are happy, I suppose that's all that really matters, right? Oh, how have I been reduced to this? Tending a bar like that ignoramus Quark! You, the hew-mons, Quark, Grand Nagus Rom, the bane of my existence, _all_ of you! Bah!" With a huff, he turned and escaped through a door into a back room.

Several seconds of silence passed in the wake of his departure. Vinyl Scratch used her magic to raise her purple sunglasses, revealing her similarly colored eyes, and looked at her partner. "I can't believe that actually worked," she said in a rather subdued voice, at least compared to the much louder one she'd been using up to this point.

"I told you it would," said Octavia, a slight smirk on her lips.

"Good cop, bad cop," said Dr. M'rrre, speaking for the first time since the two ponies had taken their places at the bar. "I'm very impressed."

"Pardon?" said Octavia, as she and Vinyl looked over at the Caitian. Then they swept their eyes around the room and noticed with some surprise that they'd gathered quite an audience during their conversation with Brunt. Nearly every eye in the bar was on them, as though this show had been just as entertaining as their musical one. Now that the show was apparently over, however, most of the bar patrons began to turn back to their own affairs.

"It's an old Earth term," explained the doctor. "One of you acts as the gruff, no nonsense, 'I'll break your kneecaps if you cross me' type, and the other acts as the more reasonable, placating partner. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it, given that you demonstrated a textbook example of it in action just now."

"I… er… thank you," said Octavia. "So, did you enjoy the show?"

"Which one?" asked M'rrre, taking a sip from her tea. "I have to admit that your music is… decidedly _not_ to my tastes at all, unfortunately, but that little display of business sense was most entertaining. It's not everyday when you get to see someone out-Ferengi a Ferengi, and so _thoroughly_ at that. By the way, I am Doctor M'rrre, Chief Medical Officer of the USS _Pegasus_. My friend here, who currently seems to be trying to hide under the bar, is Ensign Star Strider, Engineering liaison to the bridge."

Star meeped and shrank down on her stool even more when the attention of Octavia and Vinyl Scratch turned to her.

"Hey, wait… I've heard of you," said Vinyl, her face lighting up in a grin. "You're that pony who went off to Earth and joined Starfleet, aren't you. Yeah, of course you are. That uniform is a dead giveaway."

"I… I…" said Star, trying to get her brain to coordinate with her mouth so that she didn't sound like a broken record. She was having no success so far, however.

"She's a very big fan of yours, or so she tells me," said Dr. M'rrre. "It seems she might be just the tiniest bit flustered to be in your presence like this."

Vinyl regarded the navy blue unicorn for a bit and then hopped off of her stool. She moved around Octavia and stood directly in front of Star. "Well, Ensign Star Strider, Engineering liaison to the bridge, it's nice to meet you. I'm Vinyl Scratch, better known as the great DJ Pon-3." She held out a front hoof toward the quaking blue pony. Tilting her head toward the gray earth pony, she added, "And this, of course, is my partner in crime, the one and only Octavia."

Star felt like she was about to die of excitement and embarrassment. She took the white unicorn's hoof in both of her own and shook it, and then did the same to the one proffered by Octavia as well. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh you can't _possibly_ know what this means to me," she managed to squeak out.

"To be honest," said Octavia, "you're a bit of a celebrity yourself, you know, being the first pony to attend Starfleet Academy and all that."

"Me?!" said Star, incredulously. "No no no, I'm not a celebrity at all. Am I? Even if I am, I'm certainly not _anything_ like _you_ guys, anyway."

"Hey now, we didn't say you were as big as _us_," said Vinyl, but with a grin and wink that let Star know she was just joking. "Seriously, though, there are plenty of ponies back home who have been keeping tabs on what you've been up to. Last we heard, you'd just graduated from school. I didn't know you were already on a starship, though."

At this, Star and M'rrre shared a somewhat uncomfortable look. "Well… yeah, I was. I mean, I _am_. But we had a little… mishap… on our first mission. The ship is in dry dock here at DS20 for repairs, and I… well… I've been given leave for the next two weeks in order to go home and recuperate."

"Recuperate?" asked Octavia, concern in her voice. "Are you unwell?"

Star sighed and said, "I… kind of burned out my magic. It hasn't come back yet."

Vinyl Scratch winced in empathy. "Ooh, that's pretty rough. So… you're going home to recharge, huh? You heading to Ponyville, by any chance?"

"That's right," said the blue unicorn, "and then on to Cloudsdale."

Vinyl nodded and said, "Well, how about this? We're heading back down to Ponyville in a bit ourselves. You want to tag along with us?"

Star's jaw dropped, her eyes widening into saucers. "I… I…"

Dr. M'rrre chuckled and said, "She means to say 'Yes, I'd love to.'" Star nodded vehemently in response to this. The Caitian looked at the navy blue unicorn and said, "Well, that settles it then. I'll see you in two weeks, and not a day earlier. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," said Star dutifully.

"Very good," said the doctor, draining the rest of her glass. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and try to burn off some of this catnip tea." She patted Star on the shoulder good-naturedly, nodded to the two musicians, and made her way to the exit.

"We should be going, too," said Octavia. "Shall we?"

"We shall," said Vinyl, sniggering slightly. Octavia gave her a look, but then smiled and rolled her eyes.

"So _awesome_," squeaked Star, as the three ponies made their way out of the bar.

* * *

About ten minutes later found the trio of Star Strider, Vinyl Scratch, and Octavia making their way out of the transporter facility and on their way to Ponyville proper. The transporters were part of a larger research complex that had been built on the edge of the Everfree Forest by the Federation Science Council, intended to study the forest itself. After around three years of study, the best minds in the Federation had come to the conclusion that the Everfree was a "relatively normal forest, albeit inhabited by some unusually sapient wildlife." The ponies of Equestria, of course, had some disagreements with this assessment, given that "normal" was, to them, the ability to control the environment with their magic, which wasn't the case in the Everfree. At any rate, the research project had ended and the complex had been converted to a medical facility.

As they made their way toward Ponyville proper, Star noticed that the pegasus weather teams had apparently scheduled a moderate snowfall for this morning, and the ground was already starting to turn white. As they walked along the path from the medical facility, their hooves crunching in the snow, Star found herself opening up to her famous companions. "So I was wondering," she said in a mostly casual manner that would have been unthinkable to her as recently as an hour ago, "how did you two end up working in a Ferengi bar on DS20, anyway?"

Vinyl Scratch rolled her eyes and said, "Thanks to a ton of stupidity on our part."

Octavia sighed and said, "I would have used the word 'naiveté' but I suppose Vinyl has the right of it. Here is how it happened. Vinyl and I have been roommates for over twenty years now, but it was only within the past twelve or so that she first convinced me to join her on stage in a duet. I was… skeptical at first, mind you."

"You thought I was crazy, you mean," said Vinyl, giving her partner a playful nudge. "It took me almost half a year to finally convince you what an amazingly fantastic idea this was. I figured that since I had the night club crowd locked up, and you had those Canterlot snobs eating out of the frog of your hoof, if we joined forces we would absolutely dominate the music scene. And I was totally right about the night club crowd. I was… I guess… _less_ right about the Canterlot snobs, I'll admit."

"I did warn you," said Octavia, arching an eyebrow at her partner. "The Grand Galloping Gala was by far _not_ the best place for us to debut."

"Anyway," said Vinyl, "I learned my lesson and we stuck to the night clubs, at least at first. Let me tell you, Octavia was a real hit with all those dudes. So... we'd been working the clubs for about ten years, and our fame had spread far and wide. We'd started getting bookings at some of the swankier clubs in Canterlot by this time and, even cooler, at some super big shot concert halls on Earth as well. I can't even begin to tell you how rad _that_ was, but then, from what you've told us, you were there, so I guess you _know_ how rad it was, right? Well, anyway, one night around two years ago, this odd looking little humanoid guy came into one of the Manehattan clubs we had a gig at. Biggest ears I'd ever seen."

"Brunt?" Star asked.

"Brunt," said Vinyl, nodding her head. "So he comes in and everypony is staring at him. Even I slowed down in my spinning for a bit to get a good look at the dude. He waltzes up to the stage and takes a seat at one of the closest tables and watches the rest of the show. I didn't think anything of it at the time. So what if one of those Alpha Quadrant types wants to rock out at one of our shows? The more the merrier, right?"

Octavia took over the narrative. "After our show, he approached us backstage. He claimed to be scouting talent for a musical act for his bar up on the space station. Well, to make a long story short, we knew nothing of the Ferengi or their reputation at that time. What he proposed to us seemed like a decent enough deal. We knew nothing of gold-pressed latinum at that point either, or the relevant exchange rates between it and bits, which is practically nonexistent, to be quite honest. And on top of that, he's quite persuasive when he wants to be. So, thanks to our… naiveté, we signed a contract with Mr. Brunt. The rest, as they say, is history. We're not exclusive to Brunt's Bar, thank Celestia, but our scheduling according to the contract makes it somewhat difficult to book many shows elsewhere. Now that we've renegotiated our payment with Mr. Brunt, we're in a somewhat better position, but before that…"

Vinyl ground her teeth a bit and spat to the side. "Once we found out what vile little worms these Ferengi really are, that's when we started doing a little digging into the background of our host. We got a lot of really good dirt on him, some of which Tavi slammed him with today during our little contract renegotiation. Still, all in all, even _with_ today's pay increase, he still got the way better bargain in the end."

Star looked back and forth between the two of them. "That's _terrible_," she said. "You guys should fire your agent."

"You… _were_ paying attention to our story, were you not?" asked Octavia.

Star tilted her head. "What? Of course I was. What do you mean?"

"She's talking about our 'naiveté' again," said Vinyl, doing a reasonable facsimile of Octavia's accent. "You see, we didn't have an agent at the time we met Brunt. We'd just been kinda, you know, _winging it_, as the pegasi say. And until we met him, we'd been doing pretty well for ourselves without needing one."

"And now, thanks to our contract with him, Mr. Brunt himself technically _is_ our agent," added Octavia, the distaste in her voice readily apparent.

Star shook her head, feeling disgusted on their behalf. "Isn't there _anything_ you guys can do?"

Vinyl shrugged. "Not really, no. About all we can do is to wait out the contract. There's less than a year left, thank Celestia. Getting that three-year time-limited clause put in was about the only smart thing we did when we were dealing with him. In fact, I bet that's probably the only reason the little hobgoblin agreed to raise our pay at all, since he _has_ to know we have absolutely zero intention of ever signing with him again once our prison term is up. Despite my bluster back there, we really _couldn't_ have walked out on the contract. It's all perfectly legal, by Ferengi, Federation, _and_ Equestrian law. He made sure of that. Honestly, I was kind of hoping that he _wouldn't_ agree to pay us, just to give us a real reason to leave. Of course, he had no way of knowing for certain that we wouldn't walk on him, but he also knew that we knew that he'd have us tied up in court forever if we'd tried. But a lawsuit would cost him more money than he'd be willing to spend even if he won, the cheapskate, so I guess he figured it would just be cheaper to give us what we wanted.

"And, most importantly, I think Brunt knows we have _other_ ways to make his life pretty miserable in the last few months we have together, if he hadn't agreed to our raise. Take the volume, for example. You might have noticed that we were quite a bit more subdued than we normally are at most of our other shows, right? We keep the volume to a reasonable level, given the smaller size of that rat hole Brunt calls a bar compared to our usual gigs, and due to the fact that some humanoids, like your cat-lady friend, can't really tolerate what we do, even at the lower levels. Brunt, unfortunately for him, is the same, thanks to those absurdly huge ears of his. But there is absolutely nothing in the contract that says we can't crank the volume all the way up, if we want. But that's a last resort, honestly. I'd rather not do that to our fans just to get back at Brunt. In any case, take my advice, Star: never, _ever_ try to deal with a Ferengi. You might think you're getting a good deal, but… look, just don't do it, okay? At least not for anything more than maybe a drink at the bar, and even then, keep a close eye on your saddlebags. We learned that the hard way. Ferengi are scum."

The navy blue unicorn nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

"And… here we are," said Octavia. "Home, sweet home."

Star looked up and noticed that they'd somehow already reached Ponyville proper without her even realizing it, given how she'd been so caught up in their story.

"Listen, Star," said Vinyl Scratch, reluctantly, "we'd love to invite you in to visit some more, but we have a lot to do to get ready for our next show at the warden's bar, and we also have a little side project we're working on, so I'm afraid we wouldn't be very good hosts."

Star nodded. "That's okay. I have… quite a lot I need to take care of myself."

The gray earth pony gave a polite curtsey and said, "It was nice to meet you, Ensign Strider. Perhaps we'll see one another again sometime."

"I look forward to it," said Star. "Whenever the _Pegasus_ is in the area, I'll be sure to look you guys up, whether it's at Brunt's bar or wherever else you might be. And even if I'm not able to be there in person, I'll still definitely be buying all the holotapes."

"See you around, kiddo," said the white unicorn, as she and Octavia made their way inside their home. "I hope your magic comes back soon. I've never had to deal with that myself, but I can imagine how much it totally sucks." Star nodded and gave a small wave, which Vinyl returned as she closed the door behind her.

Star sighed and looked around, idly dragging her hoof around in the snow for a bit as she got her bearings. She hadn't been here in several years, but it was definitely still Ponyville, just as she remembered it as a child. Quaint, rustic little houses surrounded her on all sides. It was a bit strange to think that the now world famous (and beyond) duo of DJ Pon-3 and Octavia still lived here, rather than one of the bigger cities like Manehattan or Fillydelphia. And yet, Star herself had always much preferred Ponyville to the larger cities as well, with the only exception being Cloudsdale. Maybe that was why they stayed here. In any case, lacking anywhere in particular that she wanted to be at the moment, Star picked a random direction and started walking.

* * *

After aimlessly meandering around for an hour or so, Star began to smell something in the distance, the aroma getting stronger as she got closer to the source. It was very familiar and very delicious. It also reminded her that she hadn't eaten anything at all yet, given that she'd skipped breakfast and then ended up not even getting a drink at the bar. There were, however, other reasons that caused her to quicken her pace, as well.

She rounded a corner and there it was. Sugarcube Corner still looked like a giant frosting-encrusted cake, exactly as she had remembered it, and it still engendered the same feelings of excitement and anticipation in her as it did whenever her parents brought her here as a small child. She slowed a bit as she approached the doorway, however. Even _this_ reunion made her feel a bit anxious. Having no idea what to expect, Star slowly crossed the threshold and entered the bakery.

"Be with you in just a sec!" called out a familiar voice in response to the ding of the bell over the door as she came through it and approached the counter. After a short wait, a head popped up from underneath the counter. "Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! So what can I… get… for… …you…?" said the yellow earth pony with the orange mane and tail and the carrot cake cutie mark. His eyes widened in shock and he pushed his cap back a bit with a front hoof. "Star Strider? Is that you?"

Star smiled a bit awkwardly and said, "Yes, Mr. Cake, it's really me."

Carrot Cake rushed around from behind the counter to get a better look at her. "My goodness! How long has it been? Five or six years now?"

"Only four," said Star, trying to hide her shame and embarrassment.

"Four? That's still _way_ too long," said Mr. Cake. He raised his voice and called back toward the kitchen area. "Honey bun! Drop whatever you're doing and come out here! You'll never guess who just breezed through the door!"

A harried sounding voice originated from somewhere in the depths of the kitchen. "Oooh, is it the Princess? Her cake order won't be done for several hours at least!"

"No, it's not Princess Celestia," said Mr. Cake. "Besides, she's not making a pick up. We're bringing it to her, remember? Now come on out here, please!"

A blue earth pony with pink striped mane and equally pink triple cupcake cutie mark stuck her head through the door from the kitchen, acting as though she only had time to take a quick peek before rushing back into the fray, but when she got a look at who was standing next to her husband, all thoughts of baking fled from her mind, at least temporarily. "Oh my dear sweet Celestia, is that who I think it is?" She rushed forward and circled around the unicorn a couple of times.

Star giggled at bit at the over-the-top scrutiny. "Yep, it's me, Mrs. Cake."

"My word, how you've grown!" said Cup Cake. "Last time I saw you, you were the scrawniest little thing. I was worried they weren't feeding you anything but clouds up there in Cloudsdale. Truth to tell, you still look a bit on the slim side even now. Are you eating okay? Hold on. Let me go get you something. We just finished baking some cinnamon rolls this morning. Right out of the oven they are. I'm sure we can spare a half dozen or so."

Star started to protest, but at the mention of food, her stomach had growled rather loudly. Blushing furiously, Star said, "Well… I guess I did skip breakfast this morning."

"Oh you shouldn't do that," said Mr. Cake, as his wife nearly galloped over to the display stands and scooped off several cinnamon rolls onto a plate. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all. I'll go get you a glass of milk to wash it down."

As the Cakes bustled around her, Star started to wonder how she'd ever been able to leave any of this behind her. It seemed like only yesterday that she'd last been here. After a few minutes of Mrs. Cake acting as mother-by-proxy and leading her over to a seat at one of the tables to eat her late breakfast, the commotion finally died down. The Cakes both sat at the table with her, waiting patiently for her to finish eating. It was a bit awkward having to use her hooves to eat instead of her magic, but… it wasn't quite as bad as she'd feared it would be. Thankfully, the Cakes didn't ask her about this, given that it wasn't anything unusual to them at all, and she didn't want to worry them unnecessarily by mentioning her magic just now. Even so, she knew they had to have a hundred questions for her. She, after all, had about that many for them herself.

"So…" she said, just after washing down a mouthful of one of the absolutely divine rolls with a swallow of ambrosial milk that Mr. Cake had gotten for her. "Where are Pound and Pumpkin?"

"You're in luck!" said Mrs. Cake, with a bright smile. "They're due back from taking a shipment over to Derpy's delivery service any minute now."

"Now now, sugar plum," said Mr. Cake, "you _know_ she prefers to go by Ditzy Doo these days."

"Oh, that's right, I keep forgetting," said Mrs. Cake. "Ditzy Doo Deliveries and all that. She'll always be Derpy to me, though. How that mare managed to get a spaceship of her very own, I'll never figure out, but it's definitely saved us a lot of time over the past couple of years."

Star's eyes almost goggled out of her head at this. She'd just taken a big bite of the last cinnamon roll and it was all she could do to keep from spitting it up all over the table. Managing to swallow it, and then stifling a coughing fit with a large swig of milk, she finally got out what she wanted to say. "Wait… _what_?! Run that by me again. Derpy Hooves has her own _spaceship_?!"

"Ditzy Doo," corrected Mr. Cake again. "But yes, that's right. She bought an old shuttle off of some big-eared alien that was passing through a couple of years ago. It's this awful, orange, beetle-looking thing, but Ditzy seemed to take a real shine to it for some reason. Honestly, I think that alien was rather shifty, because from what I hear, he charged her a fore and a hind leg, even though the ship was in a terrible condition. Somehow, someway, Ditzy managed to get it working again, though. Don't ask me how she did it, but she did. Anyway, after she _also_ taught herself to fly the ugly thing, without any help from the alien of course, she and Dinky started running a delivery service all over the world, and often through the portal to the human world as well."

Star worked her mouth but no sounds came out of it. Derpy (or Ditzy Doo as she apparently preferred to be called now) owned a Ferengi shuttlecraft and was running a spaceborne courier service now. Would wonders never cease? It was no telling how long she would have remained like that, just gaping in silence at the mental image of Derpy (Ditzy!) and her daughter Dinky flying around in a shuttlecraft, if she hadn't been distracted by the door banging open.

"Mom! Pop! We're back," said a deep, masculine voice that at first, for the briefest moment, Star didn't recognize, since it was rather different from the somewhat higher pitched, slightly stuttering voice that she remembered. When she did, however, she jumped out of her seat and ran toward the source of the voice.

"Oh, it's so good to see you two again!" said the blue unicorn as she barreled into the two newcomers and wrapped them both in a huge hug.

"Star?!" said a much softer female voice from the other pony that had come through the door. "Is… is that you?!"

"What the hay, girl, where have you been all this time?!" said the male voice.

"Pound Cake, you watch your language!" said Mrs. Cake in mortification. "You're not yet too old for the soap, you know!"

"Sorry, Mom," said Pound Cake, attempting to appear appropriately admonished and trying his best not to roll his eyes.

Star released her hold on them and took a couple of steps back to get a better look at them. Pumpkin Cake looked much as Star remembered her, a slender, pretty, yellow unicorn with orange mane, just like her father. Her cutie mark, appropriately enough, was a slice of pumpkin cake. Pound Cake, on the other hand…

"Whoa, you got _tall_, boy! Well, tall_er_ I mean," said Star, looking him up and down, her eyes going from his head to his pound cake cutie mark. Not only was he tall, he was also _huge_. He had to be at least as big as Big Macintosh, if not even bigger. Carting baked goods all over Equestria definitely built muscle, it seemed. Even his wings, which he was flexing in excitement, seemed bigger and more powerful looking than she remembered them. His white-golden coat was covered in a light sheen of sweat, and his ordinarily slicked back spiky brown mane was poking out in every direction. There'd been a time during a rebellious phase when Pound Cake wouldn't have been caught dead delivering pastries for his parents, but apparently his appearance and voice weren't the only things that had changed over the past four years.

Star felt her heart beginning to race a bit. She had a deep, dark secret that she had only ever confided to one other living pony, and that secret was that she'd always harbored a bit of a crush on Pound Cake. Well, more than just a bit of one, honestly. A _gigantic_ one, in fact. And that was _before_, back when they'd all just been gangly kids growing up together, but _now_… Out of the corner of her eye, Star noticed Pumpkin Cake giving her a subtle, but weird look. It almost seemed like… sadness? Pity? What could possibly be prompting that? Why would the one pony who knew how Star felt about her brother be looking at her with commiseration in her eyes?

Mr. Cake said, "Honey bunny, how about we give the kids some space to catch up? We still have that big order for Princess Celestia to fill by the end of the day."

Mrs. Cake nodded. "Of course, dear. Pound, Pumpkin, we'll give you the rest of the morning off, but we're going to need you again this afternoon to help with the delivery for the princess. This is one we can't delegate to Der- I mean, Ditzy Doo."

"Sure thing, Mom," said Pumpkin, as her parents made their way to the kitchen.

"Thanks for the cinnamon rolls, Mrs. Cake," said Star. "It was good to eat real food again. There are just some things to which replicators can't possibly compare." Mrs. Cake beamed and nodded at the unicorn as she and her husband disappeared into the back of the shop.

"What've you been up to, girl?" asked Pound, as they took the seats that had just been vacated by their parents. "I really like the uniform, by the way. Pretty snazzy."

Star blushed a bit at the compliment. She sat back down as well and regarded the twins fondly, eager to share with them what she'd accomplished in the past four years. "I made it through the Academy, and graduated salutatorian from the engineering program. Now I've been posted to a starship. Its name is the USS _Pegasus_, if you can believe that, but despite the funny name, it's an incredible ship."

"So what are you doing back here?" asked Pumpkin. At Star's raised eyebrow, the other unicorn quickly added, "Don't get me wrong, because it's absolutely wonderful to see you again after so long. It's just I figured that, by now, you'd be off having adventures in space with your Starfleet friends."

Star sighed. "Our very first mission went pretty badly. Terribly, actually. I'm not really at liberty to talk about it in detail, but… well, the ship is in dry dock at Deep Space Twenty for repairs and… I'm here. I… I burned out my magic during the mission, and I've been given two weeks leave to recover. Hopefully I won't need nearly that long, but… well, it's been about three days now, and it still hasn't come back yet." At the twins' shared wince, Star shook her head and smiled. "But don't worry about me too much. I'm sure I'll be okay soon enough. So… how have things been with you guys?"

Pumpkin deliberated for a second or two and then said, "Well, for one thing, Pound has a _mare_friend." She said it in a kind of sing-song-y voice as though she were trying to tease her brother, but it was more for Star's benefit.

"Hey, keep it down, will you?!" said Pound, his face flushing bright red as he jerked his head around to glare at his sister. "I don't want Mom and Pop to find out just yet. I'm waiting until just the right time to let them know, you know?"

Star felt her heart skip a beat. Well, that certainly explained the look that Pumpkin had been giving her earlier. Pumpkin was watching her carefully and noticed her expression at this unexpected and, to Star, somewhat unwelcome news. Pound, thankfully, was still looking at his sister and didn't notice it. By the time he'd turned back to Star, she'd managed to regain her composure.

"Well?" said Star, trying to keep a cheerful tone in her voice. "What are you waiting for, boy? Tell me all about her!"

Pound got a sort of blissful look on his face, and said, "She's wonderful."

When it seemed as though Pound had nothing more to say on the matter, Pumpkin took up his slack. "Her name is Bubble Squeak, and she's an exchange student from Trottingham. She's attending advanced classes at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot, but on the side she's working as an intern for Ditzy Doo Deliveries. That's where we met her."

"And she's… _wonderful_," said Pound again, sighing contentedly.

"Yes, Pound, we've established that already," said Pumpkin, slight annoyance in her voice. She glanced at Star, who simply smiled back at her in return, her real feelings hidden behind a mask of faux cheerfulness, though the blue unicorn was sure the yellow unicorn wasn't fooled by this in the slightest.

In an attempt to change the subject, Star said, "Okay, I didn't ask your folks because I didn't want to risk upsetting them, but… um… I noticed that Pinkie Pie isn't around. She isn't still…?"

"Gone?" said Pound, abruptly coming down off of the high that discussing his marefriend had put him in. "Yeah… she's still _gone_."

Star sighed and shook her head. "How long has it been now? Around six years?"

"Six years as of about a month ago, yeah," said Pumpkin, the sadness evident in her voice. "Just after Hearth's Warming Day."

"Gone completely, and to this day nopony knows where she is," said Pound, sounding more than a little bit bitter. "She just up and left one day, saying she was going to go off and visit other worlds, and she disappeared in that pink flash of light she liked to use and… that's the last anypony ever saw of her. You'd think with her powers she'd at least be able to pop in from time to time and say hello, but does she? Nope." He looked at Star, a bit of hardness forming around his eyes. "I'll be honest with you, Star. I was starting to feel about _you_ the same way I do about Pinkie Pie, but at least with _you_ I knew where you were. I knew you were just over on the other side of the portal. Star, why didn't you ever come to visit? Why didn't you at least call or write from time to time?"

Star started to come up with some lame excuse, but then decided she couldn't do that to them. To him. She lowered her eyes momentarily, feeling tears starting to form in them, and then looked back up at the twins. "Fear, mostly. Fear and shame."

The eyes of both twins widened at this. "What are you talking about?" asked Pumpkin. "What do you have to be ashamed of?"

Star looked at her in surprise. "Wait… you don't know?"

"Know what?" asked Pound.

The navy blue unicorn regarded them for a moment in silence. "You mean you didn't hear about the big blow up I had with my parents just before I left for the Academy? They didn't tell you, or at least your parents?"

"This, right here, is the first I've heard about anything like that," said Pumpkin, looking at her with surprise of her own. She lowered her voice and added, "Though I might have suspected…"

"Yeah," said Pound. "I mean, we just saw your parents the other day."

Star's mouth dropped. "Really?! You did? How were they? Did they seem happy? Did they… did they say anything about me?"

It was Pumpkin and Pound's turn to regard her in silence before speaking. "You mean to say you haven't even talked to your _parents_ in all this time, either?" said Pumpkin slowly. Star just shook her head meekly in response.

"What's gotten into you, girl?" asked Pound. "Anyway, yeah, your parents still drop by Ponyville from time to time, and they always make it a point to swing by here whenever they do. Our folks asked them how you were doing and they seemed mostly happy, from what I could tell. They'd just say that they hadn't heard from you in a while, but that you were probably doing okay."

"They said that they _hoped_ you were doing okay," corrected Pumpkin. "Unlike Pound here, I'm a bit more observant when it comes to these things. They weren't happy. That was just a front. I could see it in their eyes, though. Whenever your name came up in conversation, they'd get this faraway look of pain on their faces. They tried to hide it as best as they could, but I could tell. I think Mom and Dad could too, but they never said anything about it. I guess they figured that if your parents really wanted to talk about it, they would."

Star closed her eyes. A single tear ran down each of her cheeks. "I made a real mess of things when I left. And then, I was too afraid to own up to it, so I just avoided the whole thing altogether. I ignored their calls and I never tried to call them back. And, obviously, I never bothered to come back once I was there, until now. And even _now_ I'm only here because of a freak accident. I kept telling myself I was too busy and that I couldn't let distractions like that get in the way of my education and my career and… well, you know. _Really dumb_ things like that. I'm such a coward."

Pumpkin took a deep breath and said, "Okay, Star, I'll say it again. I'm really glad you're here and it's wonderful to see you again, but… well… I'll ask you again, but more seriously this time. What are you doing here? And by that, I mean _here_ in Ponyville, rather than up in Cloudsdale visiting with your parents?"

Star opened her eyes and said, "I have to be here. Like I said, my magic is burned out completely. Because of that, I am _physically incapable_ of going to Cloudsdale right now. I'd fall through the clouds as soon as I stepped off of the landing pad. There's somepony I need to see before I can go to Cloudsdale."

The twins glanced at one another briefly and then turned back to Star. "Twilight Sparkle," said Pound.

"That's right," said the navy blue unicorn. "I need to see my old mentor and get her to cast a cloud walking spell on me. I'm hoping that maybe she can help me with my condition, too. Mind you, I do want to see her for reasons beyond that, but… well… I'm kind of dreading _that_ reunion almost as much as the one with my parents."

Pumpkin gazed out the window in the general direction of the huge tree that stood in the center of Ponyville. "Um," she said hesitantly, "I don't want to alarm you, but… well… Twilight has… changed. A little bit, anyway." Despite Pumpkin's words, Star's eyebrows still shot up in alarm.

"Yeah," said Pound. "She keeps herself cooped up in the library now practically all the time. Or, more accurately, she stays in that lab _under_ the library. The only one who ever really sees her anymore is Spike, but he's gotten to point to where he rarely comes out of there anymore either. I think Zecora comes to visit with her occasionally as well, and Twilight leaves to visit with her once in a blue moon, but that's about it."

"What about her friends?" asked Star. "Surely they…?"

"They've… kind of drifted apart over the years," said Pumpkin, still gazing out the window. "Rarity still lives in Canterlot, running the branch of Carousel Boutique that she opened there years ago, having left Sweetie Belle to run the Ponyville branch. Rainbow Dash is off in Cloudsdale being co-captain of the Wonderbolts with Scootaloo. Applejack and Fluttershy still live in Ponyville, but they've got full plates to deal with in their own ways. With Granny Smith passing away several years ago, and Applejack becoming the matriarch of the local family, she's had her hooves full. And after Apple Bloom moved to Appleloosa and Big Macintosh got married to Miss Cheerilee and started a family of his own, Applejack has had to hire outside of the family to keep Sweet Apple Acres going. While Big Macintosh does come back to help out fairly frequently… it's still mostly just been Applejack running things all by herself now. As for Fluttershy, she's kept very busy working as a veterinarian in that medical facility out on the edge of the Everfree Forest, and I think she's training on the side to eventually become a full-blown pony doctor too, last I heard.

"All of that was bad enough to keep them from seeing each other as much as they used to, I guess, but then when Pinkie Pie disappeared… well, after that the other five just kind of… parted ways altogether, more or less. I mean, two or three of them might still get together every once in a while, but I don't think they've been together as a whole group since just after Pinkie Pie left, and Twilight herself never joins these get-togethers. A year or two after Pinkie vanished, and around the same time you left for Earth, in fact, was around when Twilight started spending all of her time performing only Celestia knows what sort of magical experiments in her lab. I'm not sure the others are even really aware of what she's been like lately. I think Applejack and Fluttershy suspect something's a bit off, but I don't think they know quite how to handle it."

Pound Cake watched his sister for a bit and then sighed. "As for what she's doing, I don't think even Celestia herself knows what's been going on down there, to be honest. On more than a couple occasions, at any hour of the day or night, the whole town has been shaken by some terrible explosion that came from the library. Most ponies have been too afraid to confront her about any of it, given that she's an alicorn princess and all, and can pretty much do as she pleases. Applejack and Fluttershy tried to talk with her about it a couple of times, but Twilight never really explains what's going on. 'Oh, I just kept the burner running a bit too long on that bog moss, sulfur, and Tartaros stone concoction I was working on. Nothing to worry about!' Things like that. I don't know what she's trying to do."

Pumpkin finally turned back to Star. "Rumor has it she's been trying to find a way to locate Pinkie Pie and bring her home."

Star twisted her mouth to the side dubiously. "Huh. Not to doubt what Twilight is capable of, because I've seen her do some incredible things in the past, but… well, Pinkie Pie is nearly Discord-level in power now. If she doesn't want to come home, I don't think even Twilight will be able to bring her back. Or, even _worse_, if there is something out there that is somehow _preventing_ Pinkie from returning…"

Pound Cake's eyes widened into saucers. "Sweet Celestia… I… I had never even _considered_ that before. I just always assumed that given how strong she was, if she didn't come back, it must be because she _chose_ not to come home, but what if that _is_ why Pinkie hasn't come back? Something is keeping her from returning? Oh man. I… I really hope that's not the case. But… then again, I'd almost _prefer_ that to be the reason than to think that she hasn't come back purely by her own choice. I really don't know _what_ to think, now."

Star got up from the table. "Well, I know what _I_ need to do now, at least. I need to quit putting this off. I need to go visit Twilight as soon as possible, and for more than just my own concerns."

* * *

"Wow, you guys were right," said Star, as she and the Cake twins approached the treehouse library in which Twilight Sparkle lived. Star had always found it a little strange, but secretly very cool, that a princess would live in a place like this, rather than a large castle like the other princesses did, but then, Twilight Sparkle wasn't a typical alicorn princess, after all. However, the current condition of the library filled Star with concern. "It does look rather rundown now. The Twilight I knew _never_ would have let it get like this." She looked up at the giant tree. The windows were all covered with thick, closed curtains, the windows themselves being caked with dust and grime. Even the leaves of the tree themselves looked dingier than normal, even when taking into account that it was still the middle of winter. All in all, the library had definitely seen better days. And this was just the exterior. Star hoped that it didn't look as bad on the inside.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Pound. "There's still time to turn back."

"Oh, come on, Pound," said Pumpkin, rolling her eyes. "She's just going to visit Twilight, not entering a manticore's lair." Pumpkin turned to Star. "I hope things go well, though. Maybe you can at least find out what she's up to, if nothing else."

"I hope to do more than that," said Star. "In any case, I guess this is it. Here goes nothing." She walked up to the front door of the library and knocked on it with a front hoof. A few seconds passed, which turned into a minute, and then two. No answer from within the tree.

"Maybe she's gone to visit Zecora?" offered Pound Cake.

"Is the door locked?" asked Pumpkin.

Star tried the knob and it turned. The door slowly creaked open, letting them peer into the darkened interior. "Guess not. Well, guys, wish me luck."

"Good luck," said the twins together.

"I wish we could come with you," said Pumpkin, "but we really do have to get back to Sugarcube Corner and help Mom and Dad with Princess Celestia's huge order."

Star nodded. "I understand. Don't worry, I can handle this." She turned and started through the door, but stopped when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned and noticed Pound standing next to her.

"Star," he said, "please don't wait four more years before you come back to visit us again, okay?" He looked at her for moment and then gathered her up in a big hug. The suddenness of it shocked Star briefly, but then she happily returned the hug.

As she embraced the pegasus, Star looked over at his sister, who was a short distance away and giving her a rather regretful look, and then nodded. "I won't."

"That's good enough for me then," he said, backing away from her and giving her a smile and a wink. "See ya around, girl."

"See ya, boy," said Star softly. She watched as they made their way back toward Sugarcube Corner, trying to get her churning emotions under control once more, and then finally turned to regard the open door. Taking a deep breath, she crossed the threshold and went inside.

The interior of the library looked pretty much the same as she remembered it, except quite a bit darker. Not a single light was burning and with the curtains all drawn shut, no sunlight made its way inside either, aside from that which was streaming in through the open doorway. It was rather chilly inside of the library, as well, being not much warmer than it was outside in the winter air, and it was only getting chillier with the door still being open. Despite that, Star was hesitant to close it behind her, because it was currently the only source of light. Star slowly made her way across the room and toward the door that she knew led down to Twilight's laboratory. She'd made it about halfway across the large room when she caught a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye. She sorely wished she had her magic, because then she could have at least had a bit more light to go by.

"Who's there?" she asked, not entirely sure whether she should be whispering or screaming. For now, she was erring on the side of the former.

"Who?" came the reply.

"I asked you first," said Star, somewhat irritably. "Who's there?"

"Who?" came the same reply again.

Star started to say something else, but then smiled. "Oh," she said with relief. "It's just you, Owloysius."

"Who?" said the voice a third time.

"Very funny," said the unicorn.

"Yeah, you'd think after so many years, we'd get used to that from him, but he always gets us, doesn't he?" said a deep, rumbling voice from directly behind Star. The blue unicorn yelped and spun around. Standing less than a foot away from her was a large purple dragon with green spikes along the top of his head and down his back and tail. He still wasn't fully grown yet, not even close, but he was quite a bit larger than she remembered him being even just four years ago, and he was definitely larger than the cute, chubby baby he had been two decades ago. He was almost as big as Celestia herself now, and his features were a lot more angular than they were before. He regarded her closely and said, "I'm really not supposed to let anypony in here at all, but when I saw who it was, I decided to bend the rules a little. I saw you coming, and unlocked the door. It was all I could do to keep from rushing out the door when I saw you coming, but… Twilight wouldn't have been too thrilled if I'd left without her say so."

Star rushed forward and wrapped her forelegs around him. "Spike," she said. "It's so good to see you again."

Spike returned the hug. "I told Twilight you'd be back someday, that you hadn't abandoned us entirely. Still, you could have written a letter or something at least, you know? We'd have written to you, but my magic only goes to Princess Celestia."

Star released him and stood back. "Wait… back up a little bit. You said Twilight thinks I… abandoned her?"

The adolescent dragon sighed deeply, his breath causing a faint rumbling sound in his chest. "Well, not at first, no. But, you see… Twilight's changed a bit since the last time you saw her, Star. She's become a bit… well… …_unhinged_, to put it mildly."

"Yeah, so I've heard," said the unicorn. "What's going on, Spike?" The dragon gestured to a nearby chair for Star to sit in. After the unicorn made herself comfortable, Spike curled up on the floor in front of her. It was a bit strange to sit in almost total darkness like this, but Star felt uncomfortable turning on a light uninvited, since Spike seemed to have no intention of doing so himself.

Spike took a deep breath before launching into his tale. "Ever since Pinkie Pie disappeared several years ago, Twilight has become more and more obsessed with finding her. It was pretty harmless at first, but she's gotten more fixated with each passing month. According to Twilight, Pinkie Pie was the keystone that was holding the Bearers of Harmony together, though just barely at that. Even before Pinkie disappeared, we'd all noticed that we were kind of drifting apart. Pinkie was affected most of all, as you might expect. She took it upon herself to be the one who scheduled get-togethers, and she made sure that everypony was there. But after a while, it started to bring even _her_ down. It wasn't any one thing that was driving us apart. There wasn't one specific issue that she could fix that would make it all better again. It was just life. That's all. They all had their own increasingly busy lives to live, and while we would all remain friends, we just weren't hanging around together like we used to in the old days.

"It was hard for Pinkie to accept. She could have probably done something about it using her powers, but… I think she felt that would have been taking things too far. She may have powers like Discord, but Pinkie Pie is not Discord herself, after all. Eventually, though, it just became too much even for her to try to keep everything together like it was in the old days, and that's when she decided out of the blue that she was going to go and visit other worlds, or wherever it was she decided to go. She left pretty suddenly, too. She said goodbye to the Cakes, but that was about it. She didn't say goodbye to any of the rest of us, though. I don't know why. Before we knew it, she was just… _gone_. We expected she'd come back soon enough, but… well… she didn't. The Cakes were the last to see her before she disappeared.

"Before Pinkie left, Twilight hadn't really thought of it as much of a problem. 'They're just busy with their own lives, Pinkie, that's all. We're all still friends, though, so don't worry so much,' she used to say. But after Pinkie left, Twilight herself started to see things through Pinkie's eyes. She and her friends really _were_ drifting away from one another, and once Pinkie was gone… that's was pretty much it. I guess we can be lucky that no crisis requiring the Elements of Harmony has popped up in the past several years, but… this is far more important than just the Elements to Twilight. So, now, she's sort of adopted Pinkie's resolve to bring her friends back together, and to do that, she has decided that the first thing she needs to do is to bring Pinkie herself back. And that's where we are today."

"Wow," said Star. "That's… that's _terrible_, Spike. Where is Twilight now? What is she doing?"

Spike gestured with his nose in the direction of the door leading down to the laboratory. "She's down there, same as she always is these days. She's working on yet another spell that she hopes will let her at least locate Pinkie Pie, if not actually bring her back. At this point, she's just hoping that if she can merely find out where Pinkie is, maybe she can convince a Starfleet ship to take her to wherever that may be, if possible, and assuming that Pinkie doesn't just flit away before she can get there, of course. But first, she has to find the right spell. Maybe this one will actually work, for a change." Spike didn't sound very hopeful at all. When Star made as if to get up out of the chair, the dragon whipped his head back in her direction and said, "Hold on, now. I can't just let you go down there and bother her right now. She'd have my hide. It's bad enough that I let you in this far. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what Twilight will do if she-"

The dragon was interrupted when a massive explosion rocked the treehouse library to its very roots. Smoke began billowing out from underneath the door leading down to the laboratory. Spike rolled his eyes and muttered, "Ugh, not again. It took me an entire week to get the stench out the last time."

It was all Star could do to keep from bolting from the chair and rushing down the stairs to find out what was going on. The only thing keeping her in her seat was the sound of heavy hoofsteps clomping up the stairs, getting louder by the second. At the sound, Owloysius took flight and exited through the still open front door. Star briefly wondered if he knew something that she didn't, but she didn't have much time to ponder this, because the door from the lab suddenly smashed open and… something came through it. It took Star a bit to recognize what it was, especially in the low light.

Twilight Sparkle stood at the top of the stairs, covered head to hoof in soot and ash. Her horn was glowing, casting her blackened face in an eerie, otherworldly purple light in the darkness. It gave Star the creeps something fierce. Twilight was glaring angrily around the room. When she spotted Spike and the other pony sitting in the chair next to him, her eyes narrowed and her wings extended. As her wings moved, an unintended (Star hoped) effect was that the soot and ash swirled around her, making it all the creepier. Her voice like an ominous storm front, she growled out, "Spike! I _thought_ I told you explicitly that _nopony_ was to be allowed in here!"

"But Twi-" began Spike, but Twilight cut him off.

"NOPONY!" shouted the purple alicorn. "I told you I needed _absolute clarity_ for this spell to work. That's why all the lights are off, or had you forgotten? _Why_ is the front door open? It's bad enough with all the other ponies in town muddying the ethereal waters, but to have another pony _this_ close just ruined _everything_!"

"Twilight, you-" Spike started again.

"ENOUGH!" she thundered. "Now then, who is it that was _so important_ that you would ignore my explicit instructions?! Hmm? Who is this pony who has absolutely _ruined_ days of preparations?!" She fixed her gaze on Star and started marching toward her. Star felt herself shrinking down in the chair. She had _never_ seen Twilight Sparkle this angry before, and it absolutely _terrified_ her.

When the purple alicorn reached the chair, she stared down at the intruder. At first, Twilight's features remained enraged, but then a flash of recognition washed over her. The anger in her eyes began to war with something else that was welling up from deep within her. Finally, her mouth went slack and her narrowed eyes opened wide.

"S-Star? Is that… is that really you?" said Twilight Sparkle.

* * *

To be continued…


	3. Pilot Episode - Part 3

_Four year old Star Strider made her way home from school. It had been a particularly interesting day, since today Miss Cheerilee had told them the story of Hearts and Hooves Day, which was a few days away. Star had asked her teacher if she had a special somepony, and Miss Cheerilee had said that, yes, there was indeed a certain stallion that she'd had her eye on for a while, ever since another Hearts and Hooves Day from a few years back. This made Star happy. She hoped that she too would someday have a special somepony to share Hearts and Hooves Day with. She kind of hoped that she would get a card from Pound Cake, in fact. But then, she wasn't the only filly in her class who had this hope. Pound Cake was very popular, after all._

_As Star approached the door to her home, she heard voices coming from inside, so she slowed her pace. She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but sometimes she just couldn't help herself. Her parents often talked about a lot of interesting stuff when they were alone which they never would have talked about if they knew she was in earshot. She didn't always understand all of it, of course, but it was still interesting stuff._

"…_should be home soon," her mother was saying. "Thank you again for coming, Princess Twilight."_

"_No problem at all, Cloud," said a voice that Star recognized as that of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Why would one of the princesses be visiting her parents? "And please, just call me Twilight. I'm sure we'll get along quite well."_

"_I hope so," said Star's father. "That little outburst the other day had us pretty worried, especially since she hadn't shown an inkling of magic at all before that. Well, aside from a few bursts as a foal, but we were told to expect that." Star's eyes widened as she realized that it was _her_ they were talking about. She edged up closer to the door and pressed her ear against it._

"_That's not unusual for unicorns her age," said the princess. "All she needs is some training and she'll be fine."_

"_I'm just worried about her, that's all," said her father. "Maybe I'm being overprotective, but…" His voice trailed off._

"_It's nothing to worry about, Storm," said the princess. "I know you guys have your hooves full, both of you being pegasi with a unicorn filly, after all. It's difficult enough for _unicorn_ parents to deal with unicorn children sometimes."_

_Star's mother sounded a bit hesitant as she spoke. "Do you think you might be able to teach her the… you know… the cloud walking spell?"_

_The princess didn't answer immediately, but then after a bit she said, "Well, that's a bit advanced, especially for one so young. However, I can understand why you'd want her to know that spell. I know you guys want to move back to Cloudsdale as soon as she's old enough, so I'll do what I can. It would definitely be better if she's able to cast it herself rather than you having to come down and find a unicorn mage every few days. Still, it might take a few years before she's ready to attempt it, even so."_

_At this, Star's eyes widened as she stepped back from the door. She'd known that her parents used to live in Cloudsdale before she was born, as that was one of the things she'd overheard them talking about before, when they thought she wasn't listening, but what was this about moving _back _to Cloudsdale? Her home was Ponyville! She didn't _want_ to move to Cloudsdale! She'd have to leave school! She'd never see Miss Cheerilee or the Cakes or any of her other friends ever again!_

_Suddenly, the door opened and her mother stood there in front of her. Cloud Seed looked down at her, a mildly disapproving look in her eyes. "I thought I heard a little filly stomping around out here, and it looks like I was right. What have I told you about listening in on grown-up conversations, Star?"_

_Star's eyes began to water. "Mommy, I don't wanna move to Cloudsdale! I wanna stay right here in Ponyville! All of my friends are here!" She broke down and began to cry._

"_Oh dear," her father said. Storm Strider stepped past his wife and wrapped the filly in his wing. "Don't worry, little bug. We're not moving back to Cloudsdale anytime soon. All we want is for you to be ready for the day when we might do it."_

"_Honest?" said Star, muffling her sobs into her father's side. "I don't wanna leave Pound and Pumpkin behind."_

"_Honest," said her mother, opening a wing of her own to embrace both her husband and daughter. "Besides, even if we do move to Cloudsdale someday, that doesn't mean that we'll never come back to Ponyville. You'll see your friends again, don't worry. Now come on inside, my little light in the night. There's somepony we'd like you to meet." Star walked between her parents as they led her over to the visitor, and then her mother said, "Star, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle."_

_Star stepped out from between her parents and looked up at the purple alicorn in awe. She knew that the princess was a powerful sorceress, or so the stories went. She'd even been taught by Princess Celestia herself! It was amazingly cool. A sudden thought occurred to her, however, causing her brow to furrow. Looking up at the alicorn with a nervous expression on her face, she said, "Y-you're not here to take me away to magical prison are you?"_

_Twilight Sparkle's mouth dropped open and she stared at the little unicorn filly in shock. Then her face lit up and she laughed heartily. Despite her serious concerns, Star couldn't help but grin in response to this herself. "Why in the world would you think I'd be taking you to magical prison?" asked Twilight, her eyes twinkling in amusement._

_Star scrunched her face into a serious expression again and said, "Well, I blew up a vase the other day… and some of mommy's favorite dishes… and a window… and daddy's coffee mug… I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to! I won't ever do it again, I promise! Please don't take me to magical prison, Princess Twilight!"_

_Twilight tried to stifle her giggles and her face softened as she looked at the filly. "Star, there's no such thing as magical prison, at least not for little fillies like you. Besides, what happened to you wasn't your fault at all. Many little unicorns lose control of their powers when they first get old enough to use them. The same thing happened to me when I was your age, in fact. That's why I'm here. I'm going to tutor you in the ways of magic. And, please, just call me Twilight, or maybe Miss Twilight, if you want."_

_Star's eyes lit up. She spun around and faced her parents. "Really?! I'm going to learn magic?! That's so awesome! I can't wait to tell Pound and Pumpkin!" Another thought occurred to her and she turned back to face Twilight again. "Are you gonna teach Pumpkin how to use magic someday, too, Miss Twilight? She hasn't broken anything yet, but I've seen her shoot some sparks out of her horn sometimes. I tried to do that too, and I couldn't do it. I tried again really, really hard when I go home, but… that's when I blew up everything."_

_Twilight shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, that's up to her and her parents, but if they'd like me to teach her as well, I would be glad to do so. But, right now, you're the one I'm going to be teaching. If you want me too, that is."_

_Star grinned and hopped in a circle around the alicorn. "Of course I want you to, Miss Twilight! This is the best day ever!" Neither Twilight nor Star's parents could help but break out into grins of their own at the little filly's excitement._

* * *

Nineteen year old Star Strider shrank back in terror as she stared up at the enraged visage of Twilight Sparkle. The alicorn was entirely covered in black ash and soot, such that very little of her normally purple coat was visible. Her horn was flaring with an ethereal purple light, which lit up her face ominously, and her extended, blackened wings looked almost demonic in the otherwise darkened library. Swirls of dust and ash flowed around the alicorn, remnants of an explosion that was the result of a failed spell, the blame for which the alicorn was laying at Star's own hooves. Twilight was glaring down at Star, her eyes filled with purest rage. Out of the corner of her eye, Star saw Spike quickly rise to his feet, as though about to interpose himself between her and the livid alicorn. Star appreciated the gesture but knew that even fully adult dragons would have been wise not to face an infuriated Twilight Sparkle. The adolescent dragon wouldn't have stood a chance in Tartaros. Star knew she'd stand even less of one herself, especially in her burned out state, but even if she'd been at full power, the alicorn would still make short work of her, if it came to that. Star really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

But then, something changed in Twilight's expression. It was first a look of recognition, and then one of deep shame. Her narrowed eyes widened and she staggered backward a step.

"S-Star? Is that… is that really you?"

* * *

_**Star Trek: Pegasus**_

"Pilot Episode – Part 3"

By Kane Magus

* * *

"I'm really sorry you had to see that," muttered Spike apologetically.

He and Star sat as they had been before, but now, at least, there was light enough to see. Without another word, Twilight Sparkle had turned and fled toward the back of the library and then, just before disappearing into a door that Star knew led to a washroom, she had used her magic to ignite every light in the library. In addition to that, there was now also a roaring fire in the fireplace, which took the bite out of the chilly winter air that had been breezing into the library up until Spike had closed the outside door. Just before Spike had shut it, Owloysius had flown through and was now napping on his perch just next to the fire.

Star kept her voice low as she asked, "Is that… normal for her?"

Spike sighed. "Well, no… not really. Kind of. I mean, I've rarely seen her quite _that_ angry, but… well, she has been getting moodier lately. Honestly, she spends practically every waking hour down in that lab. She only sleeps when she simply can't physically remain upright at all. More times than I care to count I've carried her up two flights of stairs to her bed, only to see her leap up just an hour or two later and rush back down to the lab. I don't even think she would _eat_ if I didn't insist that she take a break every once in a while."

Their conversation halted as the door to the washroom creaked open and Twilight stepped out into the library itself. She looked like her proper self now that all the ash and grime were washed away. The alicorn slowly walked toward the two of them and then stopped a few feet away. She stared at Star for several moments, with Star silently returning her gaze, before finally sighing and lowering her head. She walked over and sat in the chair across from Star and looked up at her once more.

"I'd almost convinced myself that I had just imagined you," said the purple alicorn, "but you're here. It's really you."

Star smiled hesitantly and said, "Yep, I'm right here. It's really me."

Twilight didn't return the smile. "It's been four years, Star."

Star's smile faded away. "Yes, it has."

"Why are you here?" said Twilight simply.

The navy blue unicorn blinked. Just like that, huh? It stung a bit, it did, but Star supposed she shouldn't be surprised by this reaction. "Well…" she said, "I wanted to see you, for starters."

"'For starters,'" repeated Twilight, narrowing her eyes. "Um hmm. Of _course_ you have an ulterior motive. You don't care about me, or else you would have visited before now or called or written or _something_. Tell me why you are _really_ here."

"Twilight, for Celestia's sake, that's _enough_," Spike said, his deep voice rumbling in his chest as his anger flared. "This is Star you're talking to. Remember? The unicorn you started tutoring as a filly of four years old? The unicorn you gave your blessing to when she told you, _first_ I might add, before _any_pony else, that she wanted to attend Starfleet Academy when she grew up?"

Twilight looked over at Spike, as though seeing him for the first time. Then she gradually turned back to Star, a look of shame on her face once more. "I… I'm sorry. I'm just… I've been really stressed out lately and I…"

"I-it's all right, really," said Star both reassuringly and a bit guiltily. "It _is_ true, after all. I do have another, slightly more selfish reason to be here. I… I need you to cast a cloud walking spell on me."

Twilight tilted her head. "Why? Can't you do it yourself?" Before letting the young unicorn even try to answer, however, she ignited her magic again and enveloped Star in a field of purple. After less than two seconds, she let the field drop, her eyes wide with horror. "Star! What _happened_ to you?!" She jumped out of the chair and rushed over to the young pony, studying her face and horn closely with almost motherly concern.

"I b-burned out my magic," said Star, a little bit freaked out by Twilight's unexpectedly rapid mood swings.

"How?! What happened?" said Twilight anxiously. "Are you hurt?"

Star deliberated for a bit and then decided to tell Twilight the whole story. She talked about the trip to the listening post, about the encounter with the hostile aliens, and about how she'd used her shield spell to save the lives of her crewmates. Both Twilight and Spike listened to this story with grave concern. During the tale, Twilight returned to her seat across from Star and sank heavily into it.

Finally, when Star finished giving her account, Twilight angrily said, "Discord _lied_ to us. He told us there were no hostile aliens native to this region of space. And here I was thinking that he'd really reformed."

Star shook her head and said, "Maybe he didn't lie. I don't think these aliens are native to this _universe_, let alone this region of space." She repeated what she heard from Dr. M'rrre about how the aliens had vanished into a dimensional rift of some sort.

"That's even more alarming," said Twilight. She sighed and rested her head against the back of her chair. "But… that's not what's important right now. What's important is that you're injured. Spike, would you go and get my copy of _Magical Maladies and Injuries_, please?"

"Sure thing," said the dragon, getting up from the floor and heading off in the direction of the bookshelves.

"So… you had to use your shield spell," said Twilight, eyeing Star carefully. "Does it still cause you as much pain as it used to?"

Star considered her reply. "Not quite as much. I'd been practicing with it when I had a spare moment between classes at the Academy. It does still hurt, but I've been able to hold it for longer and longer periods of time. It's a good thing, too, or I wouldn't be here talking to you right now at all."

"Indeed," said the alicorn. She watched Star for a bit more and then said, "Look, Star… I just want to say again that I'm really, _really_ sorry for how I behaved earlier. I've been under a whole lot of strain these past few years. It's so good to finally see you again after all this time. But… really, though, why _haven't_ you visited or written?"

Star tilted her head. "Oh… so they didn't even tell _you_?"

"Who didn't tell me what?" asked Twilight, matching Star's head tilt with one of her own.

"My parents," said Star, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "They didn't tell you about… about the last time I saw them?"

"No," said Twilight. "Last I talked to your parents they just said that they hadn't heard from you in a while, same as me. They said that they hoped you were doing okay, but that it hurt that you hadn't contacted them at all. Star, why? What happened?"

Star felt the tears welling up in her eyes once again. She didn't even try to quell them this time, and just let them fall freely. "I'm horrible. That's why. The last time I saw my parents was four years ago, just before I left for the Academy, and we got into a terrible argument. They didn't want me to go to the Academy. They were afraid that they'd never see me again. They were… dad was afraid that I would get hurt. You know how he's always been so overprotective of me. He didn't want me to 'die in space on some cold gray starship,' he said. I was insulted that he had so little faith in me, but… well… he was very nearly right on the money. It was only by Celestia's grace that I didn't end up dead three days ago. I know now that they just wanted what was best for me, but… at the time, I was so _very_ angry and I said some incredibly hurtful things to both of them. They tried to call me at the Academy later, but I just ignored them. I finally realized how foolish I was being, but by that point I felt that it was too late… that too much time had passed, so I never tried to call them back... or anypony else… which was itself really foolish, but… well… the foolishness just kept feeding on itself, I guess. I… I want to see them… _need_ to see them, Twilight, but I'm afraid to. I… I just don't know what to do…"

The alicorn stood up and walked over to Star again, nuzzling her gently, any previous anger of her own completely forgotten. "Star, your parents miss you terribly. That's all that matters. You do need to go see them, and I'll do everything I can to see that you can get there. Family is the most important thing, no matter what." She backed away and fell into her chair again. "Family… and friends." The young unicorn noted that Twilight's eyes had gotten misty as well.

Star was unsure how to broach the topic delicately and finally decided to just be direct about it. "So… I hear that you've been trying to find Pinkie Pie…"

A pained look crossed Twilight's face. "Yes," she said. "It's not going well at all. Again, I'm sorry about how I blew up at you before, especially since it wasn't really your fault at all. That spell wouldn't have worked anyway, even if I had been able to somehow manage to convince the entire town to go visit Canterlot for a few days beforehand. I was stupid to convince myself that it would. You being here in the library when I tried to cast it didn't make the slightest difference, to be honest. I… I just used you as a scapegoat for the inevitable failure. At this point, I just don't know what else to do, Star. I've tried every location spell known to ponykind and several that I made up myself, and nothing has worked. Not a single thing. Something is… _blocking_ me. I don't know if it's Pinkie Pie herself or if it's something else. I'm not sure which possibility horrifies me more. You know how powerful Pinkie was. She was nearly on par with Discord himself. But if there's something even stronger out there that's keeping her from returning and blocking my magic from finding her… You can't imagine how many sleepless nights I've had thinking about this."

"Is it possible that she has… …passed on?" said Star, feeling terrible at even considering it, but not wanting to overlook any possibilities, no matter how dreadful they might be to think about.

"No," said Twilight, shaking her head. But then she lowered her head and considered the matter more carefully. "Or… well… if she has, I'm being blocked from detecting that as well. Several of the spells I tried should have found her even if she was… no longer with us in that sense, but even those failed. The main thing that still gives me some measure of hope is that the Element of Laughter hasn't yet picked a new Bearer. If it ever does, then that… means…" The alicorn's eyes suddenly widened into saucers and she slapped herself in the forehead with both front hooves, causing Star to flinch back in surprise at the abrupt change in Twilight's mood once more. "Six years! _Six years_ and I never even _once_ considered trying… ARGH! I am _such_ a _colossal_ _idiot_! I've been going about this _entirely backward_ for _six bucking years_! Spike! SPIKE!"

The dragon, who was just returning with the _Magical Maladies and Injuries_ tome, yelped and dropped the book, nearly smashing his own toes with it. "What?! What is it?! I got the book, just like you asked! What are you screaming about now?"

Twilight jumped up and said, "Give it to Star so she can look through it, and then come help me bring out every book on the Elements of Harmony that we have!"

* * *

_Seven year old Star Strider ground her teeth in frustration. A short distance away, Twilight Sparkle watched patiently as the filly climbed the ladder for… well, by this point, both of them had long since lost count. Star reached the top of the ladder and looked down at the cloud that Rainbow Dash had acquired for them. The pegasus herself was lounging on a nearby tree branch, lazily watching the lesson as it unfolded._

"_You can do it, Star," said Twilight encouragingly. "You almost had it the last few times."_

"_Yeah," quipped Rainbow, "she only sank through the cloud after a second or two, rather than instantly falling through like all those times before. It's definitely an improvement. Of course, if this were Cloudsdale and not just a tiny cloud hovering a couple feet off the ground, she'd still be in real trouble, any way you look at it."_

"_You're not really helping, Rainbow," said Twilight a bit crossly._

"_I'm just telling it like it is," said Dash, with a shrug. "If she wants to be able to walk around in the clouds, she's going to have to do a whole lot better than what's she's been doing. That's all I'm saying."_

_Star glared at the sky blue pegasus. She really didn't like Rainbow Dash very much, and she wondered how in the world Twilight was able to put up with her. Since the alicorn had finally begun her training on the cloud walking spell a few months ago, Rainbow Dash had been supplying the practice clouds. The clouds tended to last a couple of days before finally dissipating, and whenever they did, Rainbow would arrive with another one, like today. Star dreaded those days. As before, the pegasus had stuck around today to watch, always ready with a snide quip or three to needle the navy blue unicorn. Star really didn't understand why Dash disliked her so much, and it kind of hurt her feelings, but at the same time, she wasn't about to let the pegasus know just how much she was getting under her skin. Well, this time, Star would show her. Today was going to be the day she finally got the cloud walking spell right! She could feel it._

"_Boy, doesn't _she_ look pissed?" Dash noted. She raised her voice and said, "Hey, kiddo, don't get mad at _me_. _You're_ the one who's falling through the clouds over and over, you know? If there's anypony you should be getting mad at, it's yourself."_

"_Rainbow Dash, seriously," said Twilight, glaring up at the pegasus. "We don't come and mock you while you're training for the Wonderbolts trials, do we?"_

"'_Course not," said Dash confidently. "That's because _I_ don't screw up."_

_Star flared her nostrils and looked back down at the cloud again. She ignited her magic, wrapped herself in a bright blue glow, and then leapt off of the platform onto the cloud. For the briefest of moments, she felt elated. She was doing it! She was walking on the cloud. And then she began to sink yet again, just like every time before._

"_NO!" she yelled, and suddenly her horn flared a second time. That… was certainly new. In her surprise, she almost lost her concentration completely. In her peripheral vision, she saw Twilight's eyes grow wide. Even Rainbow Dash had stopped fidgeting and was watching her fully now. Something felt different this time._

_Star reared back on her hind legs and then brought her fore legs down hard onto the cloud. It was almost like striking stone. Well, okay, maybe not quite _that_ hard, but it definitely seemed solid enough to her. A grin spread across her face as she raised her hind legs into the air and let out a triumphant buck, before letting them drop onto the cloud surface. She let her magic die as she stood victorious on top of the cloud. Finally, after months of trying, she'd mastered the cloud walking spell. It felt good to finally get something _right_ for a change, after all the abysmal failures with every other spell Twilight had tried to teach her up to now._

_Twilight's face melted into a wide smile as she galloped toward the cloud. Before the alicorn could reach her, however, Rainbow Dash dropped out of the tree and glided over to land on the cloud next to her. Star instinctively flinched away from the pegasus, but Rainbow didn't seem to notice. Instead, she extended a wing and wrapped the small unicorn with it._

"_I knew you had it in you, kid," said Rainbow cheerfully. "Nice job." She raised one of her fore hooves and gave Star a light noogie._

_Star was confused. "But… what about all those mean things you said before? You did nothing but taunt me until now!"_

_Rainbow Dash looked down at the filly with a somewhat confused look of her own, but then broke out into a grin. "What? Nah, I was only teasing you. I was just trying to get you riled up, that's all. And it looks like it worked, if I do say so myself." She raised her voice to the purple alicorn below and said, "See, Twilight! I told you. You coddle her way too much."_

_Star struggled her way out from underneath Dash's wing, and looked at the pegasus carefully. "You mean you don't… hate me?"_

_Rainbow's grin died and she turned to face the unicorn fully. "Of _course_ I don't hate you, Star. W-where'd you get a crazy idea like that? Your father and I are very close friends, after all, since we're both training for the Wonderbolts together, so _why_ in the _world_ would I hate his only daughter?"_

"_I… I just didn't think you liked me very much at all," said Star. "All those nasty things you said every time you'd watch me trying to do the cloud walking spell. I tried not to let it show, but it really hurt."_

_Rainbow Dash watched the filly for a long moment, and then sighed and dropped her head. "Star… I didn't realize… look, I… I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, okay? Like I said, I was just trying to goad you on. I want you to succeed just as much as Twilight does. I just went about it a different way, that's all." She raised her head again and looked the filly in the eyes. "I'm sorry."_

"_Really?" said Star, trying to gauge whether the pegasus was being serious with her or not._

"_Really," said Rainbow. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She even went through all the motions, ending up with her front hoof in her eye. Star's own eyes widened. Rainbow Dash had just invoked a Pinkie Promise, so she _must_ be telling the truth. Rainbow grinned again and said, "So, we cool now, or what?" She lowered the hoof that had been on her eye and held it out toward the unicorn._

_Star grinned and raised her own hoof and bumped it against Rainbow's._

"_Hey! What's going on, you guys? Did I hear somepony making a Pinkie Promise?" said a voice that seemed like it was right on top of them. Indeed, almost as if summoned, Pinkie Pie abruptly appeared in their midst in a burst of pink light and a sound familiar to everypony in Ponyville, causing both Star and Rainbow to yelp in shock and nearly topple off of the cloud. "Ooh, it looks like you finally mastered your cloud walk spell, Star! You go, girl!" She held up a hoof in the same manner that Rainbow had earlier. Her grin reappearing, Star gave Pinkie a hoof bump as well. Only belatedly did Star realize that Pinkie Pie herself was also standing on the cloud, but she'd long ago stopped being surprised by the things Pinkie was able to do._

"_Geez, Pinkie," said Rainbow Dash. "Are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack?"_

_Twilight's voice called from down below, "Are you guys coming down or are you planning to stay up there all day? Should I fly up there and join you? And do I hear Pinkie Pie up there now as well? It sounds like it's getting pretty crowded."_

"_Yep, it's me!" said Pinkie Pie, with a giggle. "Come on, girls, let's go see Twilight." Before either Star or Rainbow could respond, all three of them disappeared in a pink burst of light and the sound of Pinkie's party cannon, only to reappear a split instant later on the ground next to Twilight._

"_Gah!" cried out both Rainbow and Twilight. Star, however, was long since used to Pinkie's antics, given that ever since Star was a foal the pink earth pony liked to play with her and the Cake twins whenever they had a spare moment not at school or doing homework or doing chores or studying with Twilight or whatever else._

"_You guys ready for the big party this evening?" asked Pinkie excitedly._

"_Party?" said Twilight._

"_What party?" asked Rainbow. "This is the first I've heard of it."_

_Pinkie grinned and said, "Rarity's in town from Canterlot! So, of course, that means we have to have a party. It'll be the first time in a while that we've all gotten together like this." Pinkie's grin faded a bit and she added, "We don't really hang out as much as we used to, you know?"_

_Twilight shrugged and said, "Well, everypony is busy with their own things, Pinkie. I wouldn't worry about it. Still, it'll be nice to see Rarity and catch up."_

_Rainbow nodded and said, "I was going to go get in a bit more training with Star's dad this evening for the upcoming Wonderbolts tryouts, but I guess I can spare a few hours for a party."_

"_That's wonderful!" said Pinkie. "And speaking of Star's dad…" She turned to Star and said, "…of course you and your parents are invited as well. The more the merrier! Now, I have to go get things ready, but come on by Sugarcube Corner in an hour or so and we'll party like there's no tomorrow!" With that, she gave them a wink and then disappeared in a burst of pink light, the sound of her party cannon, and a blast of confetti._

"_I will _never_ in a _million years_ get used to that," said Rainbow, as the confetti rained down over the three remaining ponies._

"_You and me both," said Twilight_.

* * *

Nineteen year old Star Strider walked alongside Twilight Sparkle as they both made their way toward Sweet Apple Acres, leaving hoof prints behind them on the snow-covered path. Spike had been sent off on a new errand by Twilight and thus wasn't with them at the moment. Most of the rest of Ponyville's citizens were inside their homes where it was warm, so the two of them didn't see anypony else out and about.

"Not that I mind the company, but you didn't have to come along with me for this, you know," said the alicorn. "I would have been glad to have cast the cloud walking spell on you so that you could go see your parents as soon as possible."

Star shrugged and said, "Well, the way I see it, you're going to be heading to Cloudsdale for your own reasons soon enough, right? So I'll just wait and tag along with you when you go, if you don't mind."

"Did you find anything in my _Magical Maladies and Injuries_ book that might help you with getting your magic back?" asked Twilight, looking at the younger unicorn with concern in her eyes. She didn't seem too hopeful.

"Not really," said Star, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. "For the most part, the book just said that it takes time and rest to regain one's magic after a burnout like mine, which I already knew. There were a few folk remedies that claimed to help, but I'm dubious. It might not hurt to ask Zecora later, at any rate. Anyway, to get back to what you said before… as much as I do want to see my parents, I… I think I need a bit more time to mentally prepare myself to see them again. And besides, I think what you're doing here is just as important as that. If it means that we really can finally find Pinkie Pie and bring her home, I want to be a part of that. Do you think it will really work, though?"

Twilight shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know. If I'm right, it has a better chance of success than most of those worthless spells I'd been wasting my time on for the past several years, at least. I _still_ can't believe that in all this time, it never _once_ occurred to me to try this. In any case, though, we won't know for sure until we try it out. With that said, I do have a potential trump card to play that will hopefully push the odds even more in our favor. That's why I sent Spike off to make arrangements with Ditzy Doo Deliveries."

Star had something else she was about to ask, but the mention of Ditzy Doo completely derailed her train of thought. "So, uh, what's up with that, anyway? Do you happen to know why Derpy changed her name?"

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, I do. She finally found out what 'derpy' means in Federation Standard," said the purple alicorn with a slight frown. "It's not very flattering at all, if you don't know what it means. So she decided to stop using that nickname and start going by her original name. I… I just didn't have the heart to tell her that 'ditzy' isn't all that much better than 'derpy,' to be honest. It's strange how words that are completely innocuous in one language can be somewhat insulting in others."

Star twisted her mouth to the side, and clicked her tongue slightly. "Poor Derpy… or I guess I should say Ditzy now. Still, I guess I shouldn't feel _too_ sorry for her, since she's apparently flying around in a Ferengi shuttlecraft, or so I hear anyway."

"Ferengi?" asked Twilight, making a mental note of the name. "So that's what that large eared humanoid is called? All I knew was that his name was Brunt. He came by the library a few years ago, looking to sell some old, tattered books he'd gotten only Celestia knows where. They were still salvageable, though, and came from many different worlds in the Alpha Quadrant, so I still wanted to buy them from him even so, but he didn't seem interested in my bits at all. Gold was pretty worthless to him, apparently, so I traded him a few beginner magic books that he seemed awfully interested in. I tried to tell him that they were pretty much completely worthless to him, since he had no potential for magic at all, but he didn't want to listen. In any case, he seemed happy with the exchange, but I thought I got the better deal, despite the horrid condition the books were in. As for that ugly spaceship of his, I never found out what Ditzy Doo traded to him in exchange for that, and I'm not sure I _want_ to know, but they both seemed pretty pleased by the deal in the end. After that, I heard that Brunt went off to Manehattan for some other business, but I don't really know anything about that, since it didn't concern me at all."

"That must be when he went to make his… 'deal' with Octavia and Vinyl Scratch," said Star, nodding.

"Oh?" said Twilight, raising an eyebrow. "First I've heard of this. Sorry, but I don't really keep up with the whole music scene, for the most part."

Star let out a sigh in absent commiseration with the new friends she'd met earlier in the day and said, "This Ferengi owns a bar up on Deep Space Twenty. A couple years back, he suckered those two into working for him as a musical act for the bar. It won't be long before their contract is up and they'll be free of him, though, so they have that to look forward to, at least. Suffice it to say, Ferengi are notorious for being swindlers in the Alpha Quadrant, and he definitely swindled them. You're very lucky that your own transaction with him went as well for you as it did."

"Eh, not so well, really," said Twilight, rolling her eyes. "After I translated them, it turned out that the books were nothing more than a bunch of tawdry romance novels. Some of them were rather… um…" The alicorn's cheeks started glowing red in embarrassment. "Well… let's just say I don't keep them out on the shelves where any little fillies or colts could get their hooves on them and leave it at that, shall we?" She glanced ahead and, with more than a little relief, said, "Oh, look, here's Sweet Apple Acres. Let's go find Applejack, shall we?"

The unicorn and alicorn started toward the house, but as they approached, they heard familiar voices faintly coming from the barn in the distance, carrying quite far in the crisp winter air, so they turned and headed in that direction instead.

"…tellin' ya, Big Mac," said a female voice. "I can't keep this up for much longer. I ain't sure what else to do. I… I just don't think I can do this by myself anymore. Ever since Granny Smith passed on… it just ain't been the same, ya know? And it's just been gettin' worse every year. I know ya still come back to help as much as ya can, but that ain't no real solution either. Ya got yer own family to look after now. And with Apple Bloom moved out to Appleloosa…" The voice trailed off.

"What about the help?" asked Big Macintosh. "That's why ya hired those guys in the first place, ain't it?"

Applejack snorted and said, "Those hired hooves? They're part of the _problem_. They're lazy good-for-nothin's. When they ain't comin' in late or leavin' early, they're lazin' out in the fields. They think they're pullin' the wool over my eyes, but I see 'em. Why just today I caught a couple of 'em out having a snowball fight when they shoulda been mendin' the fences. I ain't one to deny a pony a bit of fun now and again, but this is a regular thing with those colts, goofin' off when they should be workin'. If most of 'em weren't away for the winter season, I'd have half a mind to round 'em all up and fire the whole danged lot of 'em right here today."

"I don't know, sis," said Big Mac. "They seem like hard enough workers to me. Sure, they can't buck a tree half as well as _we_ can, but that's only to be expected."

"You don't see 'em on a day-to-day basis like I do, big bro. I'd be happy if they _were_ as much as half as good as us. Big Mac, even _ten_ of those colts ain't yer equal." Applejack sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for grousin' to ya like this. I just needed to blow off some steam, that's all. It ain't anything ya need to worry yerself about. I'll think of somethin' so don't ya fret none. Even if I do have to end up firin' this bunch, there're plenty of others out there who're willin' to work. And if it comes right down to it, I might even reconsider Flim and Flam's offer to sell me some of their crazy machines."

"Wait, have those two frauds been botherin' ya again?" said Big Mac, narrowing his eyes. It was clear this was not something that pleased him to hear in the slightest. "I knew they were nothin' but trouble, especially when I heard they were pokin' their noses around here again. They ain't after the farm again, are they?"

"Aw, they ain't so bad," said Applejack, shrugging dismissively. "Once ya get to know 'em better, at least. I just had lunch with 'em the other day, in fact. Sure, we all got off on the wrong hoof years ago when they first showed up in Ponyville, but really, they seem like they're on the straight and narrow now. And their machines are a right marvel, at least when they ain't turnin' off the safeties to win a bet, of course. They've branched out beyond just cider makin' too. They've got a whole line of farmin' machinery now. Ya have to see some of those things, Big Mac. They're downright amazin'. I'd have to hire a few unicorns to run 'em, of course, but that's not a big deal."

"AJ, I don't know," said Big Mac hesitantly. "Those guys tried to steal our farm, in case ya forgot."

"Well," said Applejack, a bit testily, "in case _you_ forgot, it's _my_ farm now, and I gotta do what's best for it. And, to be honest, I'm almost to the point where it's either get a little help from the Flim Flam Brothers or just throw in the towel altogether. I don't really want to do the latter at all, and I'm more than willin' to swallow my pride and do the former, if need be." Applejack sighed again, more heavily this time, and said, "Look, I'm sorry again for gettin' all riled up at ya about this, Big Mac… but somethin' is just gonna have to give. Remember that time I tried to harvest the whole orchard by myself like a dang fool? Remember how tired and worn down that made me? Well… it feels kinda like that pretty much _all the time_ for me these days. And it's not like I can ask my friends to help out this time either. They got their own busy lives to lead after all."

It was at this point that Twilight and Star finally reached the door to the barn. Twilight raised a hoof and knocked politely, but quickly, on the door. She felt more than a little guilty that she'd overheard as much of that conversation as she had, and wanted to let them know they had guests as soon as she could do so.

"Now who could that be?" asked Applejack, her voice growing louder as she approached the door. "I swear, if it's one of those farm colts tryin' to get one over on me, I'll-" She opened the door and stopped in mid-sentence when she saw who it was.

"Hi, Applejack," said Twilight. She smiled in embarrassment and raised a hoof in an awkward wave. When Applejack just stood there with her mouth hanging open, Twilight tilted her head and said, "What is it? You look like you're seeing a ghost."

"For a minute there, I almost thought I was," said the orange earth pony. "It's… it's just that I didn't expect to see ya outta yer lab." Applejack noticed Star and said, "Well, I'll be… if it ain't little Star Strider! It's been a while since I last saw ya 'round these parts. And would you look at that fancy pants uniform too! Looks good on ya, kid." Star grinned and nodded in acknowledgement. Twilight, on the other hand, just sighed and looked even more embarrassed.

"Yeah," said the alicorn. "I know it's been a while since I last came up for air, but… well… I finally found out what I've been doing wrong all this time."

"And what's that?" asked Big Macintosh, as he came up behind his sister.

Twilight looked back and forth between the two Apple siblings and said, "I've been trying to do everything all by myself, that's what. You know… the very thing I tried to warn Applejack against doing, all those years ago? Anyway, you might have already heard the rumors… I've been looking for Pinkie Pie. I thought that if I found her, maybe she could help me stop the deterioration of all of the rest of our friendships that's been happening over the past several years now. But what I didn't realize was that shutting myself away from everypony was the exact _wrong_ thing to do. However, I now think I've found a different way to find Pinkie, but it's going to require more than just me. Applejack, I'll need your help and the help of all of our other friends to do this."

Applejack smiled and said, "Well, it's certainly good to see ya out and about, Twi. But… I'm not sure what ya need me for. I don't know the first thing about magic, after all."

"Simple," said the alicorn. "I plan to make use of the Elements of Harmony. It shouldn't take more than a day or two to gather up everypony and give it a shot."

The orange earth pony nodded and said, "Sure, I'll be glad to help." Then she got a distressed look on her face. "Wait… no, I… I _can't_ just leave the farm… I… things are already fallin' apart as it is. If I leave even for just a single day-" She stopped when Big Macintosh put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about a thing, little sis," said Big Mac. "I ain't so rusty that I can't run this ol' farm for a couple of days. Go on and take care of this business."

"But what about yer-" started Applejack, but Big Mac shook his head to silence her again.

"Don't ya worry none about my family," said the red earth pony. "In fact, I'll send 'em a message to meet me here. Cheerilee's out of school for winter break and, to be honest, little Apple Lily has been buggin' us to visit the farm for longer than just a day for a while now, anyway. Apparently, Hearth's Warmin' wasn't enough for her. Ya know how much fun she has when I bring her out here with me sometimes. We'll make a little vacation of it. Heck, I _might_ even decide to stay a few extra days after ya get back as well, assumin' ya ain't too bothered havin' us all up in yer mane like that."

Applejack's eyes started to water and she gave her brother a big hug. "Thank ya, Big Macintosh. Ya can't know how much this means to me. And, sure, I definitely want ya to stick around for a while if ya can. As long as ya want."

Big Mac smiled and said, "Besides, this won't be the first time I've had to keep an eye on things while my little sis went off on an adventure with her friends." Applejack took a step back from him and looked him in the eye, a sad look on her face. Big Mac just snorted and rolled his eyes. "I didn't mean it like _that_, AJ, and ya _know_ it, so don't give me that look. Anyway, if yer worried about those farm hooves lazin' about, I'll put the fear of Celestia in 'em. By the time ya get back, they'll be buckin' trees _at least_ half as good as we can, even if there ain't nothin' but snow to buck off 'em this time of year. And while yer gone, I'll even see about gettin' Apple Bloom to come back for a visit as well and make this a _proper_ family get-together. I know this won't solve all yer problems, but I figure ya probably need somethin' like this all the same."

At the last bit about Apple Bloom, Applejack all but completely lost it. Tears streamed down her face as she once again enveloped her brother in a hug. "That would be real nice, big bro. Real nice. She wasn't able to make it here for Hearth's Warmin', after all." She backed away from him again, lowering her head to regain control of herself once more. Then she turned to Twilight and Star. "Welp, it looks like my schedule just got cleared for a couple days at least, so I'm yer pony. Where to now?"

* * *

"_Doctors Ogawa and Redheart, please report to the maternity ward, stat!"_ a voice called out over the public address system of the Federation medical facility. All around Twilight, Applejack, and Star was the hustle and bustle of activity. Most of the staff was made up of ponies, but they still caught glimpses of bipedal humanoids here and there as well. All of the latter were wearing blue Starfleet uniforms.

"Can ya believe Fluttershy actually works in a place like this?" Applejack marveled as they made their way toward the veterinary ward. "Even just a few years ago, she'd have still been far too timid to be around this many others at once."

"She's come a long way," said Twilight, but then she lowered her head in shame. "Or… so I've heard anyway. I… haven't really been keeping up with how she's been doing as much as I should have."

"Don't beat yerself up so much, sugar cube," said the earth pony. "What matters is that ya finally saw the light and are tryin' to make things right again." As Star listened to this, she thought of her parents once more. Hopefully they'd be as understanding as Applejack was with Twilight. But then, Twilight had never been as horrible to Applejack as she had been to her parents. Star shook her head and tried to banish these thoughts.

As the trio approached the veterinary ward, even if the signs hadn't been a clear indicator that they were in the right place, they still would have known it because as they passed through one of the doorways, the sounds of animals could suddenly be heard all around them. Dogs, cats, chickens, squirrels, and various other species of critter were making their presence known to all. The three ponies entered one of the patient rooms and stopped short at what confronted them. A timberwolf, of all things, was lying on its side on a large biobed, its glowing eyes flicking in their direction as they entered.

"There you go, sir." A soft voice could be heard coming from a source not currently visible from the other side of the massive creature. "I've treated the burns, so you should be ready to go home now. Just be careful and remember to take shelter next time there's a thunderstorm. You don't want to get caught in another forest fire, after all. Now, if you'll just accompany Nurse Lopler to the transporter station, you'll be returned right to your den in no time."

The timberwolf rolled up onto its legs and then hopped down off of the biobed. Star, Twilight, and Applejack pressed themselves tightly against the wall as the hulking beast placidly padded its way toward them and the exit of the room, being led by a human Starfleet ensign. The human nodded to them as she passed, while the timberwolf merely sniffed in their direction once and then ignored them completely. The three ponies watched as the creature finally disappeared through the doors, and then they turned back toward the interior of the room.

"_Very_ nicely done, Fluttershy," said another voice near to the first one they'd heard. Standing near the end of the biobed was another human doctor, an elderly male wearing a Starfleet uniform underneath a long blue lab coat. He patted the yellow pegasus with the pink mane on her shoulder and said, "I don't believe I've ever seen a denizen of the Everfree Forest handled more effectively than that. They're usually most troublesome patients. Often, the attending physicians end up as patients themselves."

"I-I was afraid that we were going to lose him, Dr. Bohman," said Fluttershy, bowing her head and looking down at the floor.

"Yes, it was touch and go there for a while," said the Starfleet doctor, "but you pulled through most admirably. I couldn't have done a better job myself, in fact. Are you _sure_ you don't want to go ahead and move on to pony patients sooner? I think you're more than ready."

"Oh no," replied the pegasus. "I'm really not ready yet. I-I haven't completed my studies. I still have a long way to go, so I don't think I-"

The doctor harrumphed and said, "Fluttershy, your studies are one thing, but I'm offering you a little head start on getting some valuable hands-on experience... or, heh, I suppose I should say 'hooves-on' in your case, right? Think of it as an internship, if you want. Nothing too stressful, if you don't think you're ready for that. And you'll definitely still have time to work with the animal patients as well. That said, however, I definitely think that you're… oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice we had guests." Both of them looked up at the three newcomers.

Fluttershy's eyes went wide. "Applejack? And T-Twilight? And… Star? Oh my. I wasn't expecting any visitors at all."

"Are these friends of yours, Fluttershy?" asked the human. He and the pegasus stepped out from behind the biobed to stand in front of the other three ponies.

"Yes," said Fluttershy with a nod. "Oh, I'm sorry. I should make introductions. Dr. Bohman, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Star Strider. Guys, this is my mentor, Dr. Julius Bohman."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," said the elderly doctor, holding out his hand and stooping a bit as he shook each of their hooves. When he got to Star, his eyes lit up and he said, "Ah, you must be the young pony who everyone's been talking about. Am I correct in assuming that you've graduated from the Academy by now?"

Star nodded. "That's right, sir. I've been assigned to the _Pegasus._"

"Aha," said Bohman, his face seeming to shed ten years as it split into a grin. "That's one of those new-fangled _Continuum_-class vessels if I'm not mistaken. Captain Sovaal, right?"

Star was a bit surprised. "Yes, sir. Do you know him, sir?"

"Indeed I do," said the doctor. "I used to be his chief medical officer back on the _Huntington_ and before that we both served as junior officers on the _Venture_. Oh, by the way, is Marie on the _Pegasus_ by chance? Black furred Caitian girl with silver hair?"

Star's surprise grew by the second the more she talked with this old man. "She is, sir. In fact, she's the chief medical officer."

"Well, I'll be damned!" said Bohman, a look of pride washing over his features. "Oh, pardon my language. It's just that, you know, I taught that girl everything she knows. Sure, she'll claim she got most of it from her book learning at the Academy, but we both know better." The old man winked as he said this. "I took her under my wing, so to speak, when I first met her on the _Huntington_, same as I have with young Fluttershy here." He turned to the yellow pegasus and said, "One thing the two of you have in common is an _un_common talent for the medical arts. Maybe I'll introduce the two of you to one another some day." The elderly doctor turned and noticed all eyes were on him and held up his hands. "Oh, I'm sorry. I've been monopolizing the conversation, haven't I? I'll make myself scarce so you can catch up with your friends, Fluttershy. If you need me, I'll be in the lounge. It was nice to meet you all. Ensign Strider, please tell Marie and Sovaal that I said hello, if you would."

"I will, sir," said Star, watching as the old doctor made his exit from the room.

Twilight and Fluttershy faced one another and then, simultaneously, both of them said, "I'm sorry."

Twilight blinked and said, "Wait… what?"

Fluttershy recovered first and said, "I haven't been to visit you in so long, Twilight. I'm so sorry. It's just… I've been so very busy and I just haven't…" She trailed off as she noticed the look of surprised amusement on the alicorn's face. "Did I say something funny?"

Twilight shook her head, though still smiling, and said, "Well, it's just that you pretty much stole my lines. _I _was about to say almost those exact words to _you_."

"But… I don't understand, Twilight," said the pegasus.

"I've been so buried in my magical research and experiments," explained the alicorn, "that I haven't been a very good friend to you or Applejack or anypony else. And that was wrong of me. Especially since I only just now realized that if I had simply involved you guys from the start, we might have solved this issue years ago."

"What issue?" asked Fluttershy quizzically. "Is there something wrong?"

"She's talkin' about Pinkie Pie," said Applejack. "We think we might have a way to find her, but we're gonna need yer help for it, along with Rarity and Rainbow Dash."

Fluttershy's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh… oh my…" Then she lowered her head in shame. "I… I've been so very busy lately that I… I almost completely forgot about Pinkie Pie being… gone. I… I'm such a _terrible friend_."

Applejack sighed and said, "Don't feel too bad, sugar cube. You ain't the only one who's had other things on her plate lately. Twilight here seems to have been the only one of us who has been tryin' to do anything about it all this time."

"Maybe so, but…" said Twilight, not at all comfortable with the direction the conversation was taking. In this case, she didn't want to be made out to be the only one in the right while her friends were ignoring a problem, because she certainly didn't _feel_ like she was in the right. "…that doesn't excuse me neglecting all of my _other_ friends in the pursuit of finding her, though. And like I said, if I'd asked for your help sooner…"

Star looked back and forth between the three older ponies and cleared her throat. When they turned to face her, she said, "I don't mean to butt in here, but… well… the past is the past, isn't it? What really matters is that you're here _now_ and that you have a chance to make things right again." As an outsider, for the most part, when it came to Twilight's circle of friends, Star was somewhat afraid that she might be overstepping her bounds here.

The other three ponies stared at her for a bit, and then Applejack nodded once and said, "Yer absolutely right, sugar cube."

Twilight nodded as well, and then turned back to Fluttershy. "Okay, so here is my plan. Once we've reunited with Rarity and Rainbow Dash, we use the Elements of Harmony to try to find Pinkie Pie, via the Element of Laughter."

Fluttershy nodded and said, "Okay. You can count on me. I'm sure I can get some time away from my practice and my studies for this. So… when do we leave?"

* * *

_Nine year old Star Strider hesitated before entering the Ponyville library. It had been almost half a year since she'd last visited Ponyville with her parents. Her dad's job as one of the Wonderbolts had kept them from getting much time away from Cloudsdale, to which Star and her family had moved not more than three months after Star had finally mastered the cloud walking spell. Since the Summer Sun Celebration was in Ponyville this year, however, it had given her a reason to come back, since the Wonderbolts would be performing here. She'd been looking forward to it at first, but now, she wondered if it might not have been better if she'd just stayed at home in Cloudsdale after all. Taking a deep breath, Star pushed open the door and walked through._

_Twilight Sparkle looked up from the book she was reading. When she saw who had come through the door, she set aside the book entirely and got up from the sofa, a smile on her face. "Star! It's been a while. How are things in Cloudsdale?" she asked._

"_They're… okay, I guess," said the young blue unicorn, not meeting her eyes._

_Twilight waited for a bit, then said, "Oh… kay… so… are you looking forward to the Summer Sun Celebration?"_

_Star shrugged and said, "Yeah. I guess so." She slowly ambled into the room and plopped down in a chair opposite of the one in which Twilight had been sitting before, keeping her head bowed low._

_Twilight's smiled faded and was replaced by a frown. "Star, is there something wrong?" she asked, her voice tinged with concern. She sat back down across from Star._

_Star finally looked up at the alicorn. "I just can't do it, Twilight. I've tried to keep up with my magical studies like you wanted, but I just can't do it. For the past six months, I've gotten up in the morning, fortified my cloud walking spell, and gone to school. Then, in the evening, when all of the pegasi went off to the afternoon flight training classes, I'd find a quiet spot and practice my magic. I practiced until Celestia lowered the sun and Luna raised the moon, and sometimes even later. I've tried every spell that you ever attempted to teach me, but, except for the cloud walking spell, I'm not able to do _any_ of them. Not a single one. I was hoping that between the last time I saw you and now, I would master at least one or two of them and surprise you… but, I just can't do it. I'm not cut out for magic. All I have are my basic telekinesis and the cloud walk spell, and I'm lucky to have that much. I'm sorry for being such a disappointment. I know you tried for four years to teach me, but I'm such a lousy student."_

_Twilight remained silent for a moment, but then she smiled again. "Well, that's okay, Star. It's no big deal. Not every unicorn is able to do a bunch of spells. I'm not disappointed in you in the slightest."_

_Star blinked. "Really? You're not?"_

"_Of course not," said the purple alicorn. "Your destiny simply lies elsewhere, that's all."_

"_Some destiny," muttered Star. "I don't even have my cutie mark yet. Have you ever even _heard_ of such a thing as a nine year old filly without a cutie mark?"_

_Twilight rolled her eyes and said, "I might have heard of three or four of them in my time. One of them has just made it into the Wonderbolts, in fact. You might have heard of her?"_

_Star's eyes widened. "You mean… Scootaloo? She… she didn't get her cutie mark until she was…?"_

"_Older than you are now, actually," said Twilight, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "But don't you _dare_ tell her I told you about this."_

"_I won't," said Star, still in awe that one of her idols had been in the same boat as she was. Maybe… maybe it wasn't such a terrible thing after all._

"_Anyway," said Twilight, "I guess it's established now that your future doesn't lie in magical study. So tell me… what do you want to do when you get older?"_

"_I… I hadn't really thought about it much," said Star, evasively. She shifted her eyes away from the alicorn conspicuously._

_Twilight arched an eyebrow. "Is that so? No thought at all? None whatsoever?"_

_Star looked back up at her former magical mentor and said, "Well… I have been considering something… but… no, there's no way I'd ever be able to…"_

"_Go on," said Twilight, definitely intrigued now. "Tell me."_

_Star looked at the alicorn for a long while, and then took a deep breath and said, all in a rush, "I want to go to Starfleet Academy."_

_Twilight blinked. "Wow. That's a pretty lofty goal."_

"_Yeah, I know. There's no chance they'd ever accept me," said Star, lowering her head again._

"_I didn't say that at all," said Twilight. "However, if that's what you think, then you're right, you _won't_ ever be accepted."_

_Star's head felt like a yo-yo as she snapped it back up to look at the purple alicorn again. "W-what do you mean?"_

"_You're defeating yourself before you even start," Twilight explained. "Saying things like 'I'd never be able to' or 'they'd never accept me' when you should be saying things like 'I'll definitely be able to' or 'they're sure to accept me' instead."_

_Star's eyes widened. "You really think they would? You… y-you really think that I have a shot at it?"_

_Twilight smiled. "I think you can do anything you set your mind to."_

"_I can't do magic," said Star, lowering her head again._

"_Star," said Twilight, with a sigh. "You're _really_ not making it easy for me to encourage you, you know? That was different. With magic, you tried your best and… well… sometimes, even when we try our best, we just aren't up to the task. There are plenty of things I've tried that I can't do, for instance."_

"_Really?" said Star dubiously. "Like what?"_

"_Well," said Twilight, "for one thing, I can't build a decent bird nest to save my life." She was looking off into the distance, not at anything in the room, but at something in her memories. "I can't ice skate without falling on my face. I can't push a snow plow without magic, and _with _magic… well, I almost ruined Ponyville's Winter Wrap Up a couple of years before you were born. And those are just the things I learned I can't do over the course of a _single day_. There are plenty of other things I'm not good at, too. But the point is, at least I _tried_ those things before finding out that I couldn't do them. If you resign yourself to thinking you'll never be accepted into Starfleet Academy before you even try, then you won't be."_

"_I… I think I understand," said Star. "So… do you think I should apply to the Academy when the time comes? I still have a few years to go before I'm ready to even try to apply, and there's the minimum age requirement and all, but…"_

"_That just gives you more time to prepare, right?" said Twilight. "So… if you do attend the Academy, what field would you go into? Do you see yourself as the captain of a starship someday?"_

_Star blushed and said, "M-maybe. But I actually think I'd rather go into engineering or maybe something related to science."_

"_Really?" said Twilight, raising an eyebrow. "Well… it _is_ true that you always did seem a lot more interested in my astronomy lessons than the magic ones." As Star's blush deepened, Twilight smiled and said, "Hey, in fact, you came here at just the right time, if your interest is in engineering. I just got something in a couple of days ago that you might be pretty interested in."_

"_What is it?" said Star, already feeling her excitement starting to bubble._

"_Follow me," said Twilight. She got up and made for the door that led down to her lab. About half a minute later found Star and Twilight standing at the bottom of the stairs leading back up to the library proper. "There it is," said the purple alicorn, indicating a strange device that was taking up the bulk of her work table and then some._

"_W-what is it?" asked Star in quiet wonder._

"_It's a…" Twilight started to say, but then stopped and smiled enigmatically. "Actually, let's see if you can figure it out for yourself. Try to probe it with your magic."_

_Star looked at the alicorn uncertainly for a bit, but then turned back to the strange device. She let her horn flare with bright blue magic and a similar colored field appeared around the thing on the table. Star let the magic penetrate into the inner workings of the device. At first, she didn't have the slightest clue what she was sensing, but then as if by… well… by _magic_, she began to get an understanding of the machinery._

"_It's… it's a… I think it's an energy shield generator of some sort," said Star, after a moment._

_Twilight's eyes widened. "Wow. Very impressive," she said. "That's _exactly_ what it is. This is the main shield array for a _Danube_-class Starfleet runabout."_

"_How did you get this?" asked Star, not taking her eyes off the machine for a second as she continued to probe its depths with her magic._

"_I have a bit of influence with Starfleet," said Twilight, "so I've been pulling some strings to get my hooves on some of their technology to study. I got a taste of it back when we made first contact, when I was helping them to enhance their photon torpedoes and phasers, and I wanted to see what I could do with some of their other pieces of tech. They agreed that this could have interesting results. This shield array is one of the pieces that they've sent me. Unfortunately, I've managed to break it somehow, and I haven't yet quite been able to figure out what happened."_

"_Yes," said the navy blue unicorn, her voice distant as she was paying more attention to the device than she was to Twilight. "I see. I think I know what's wrong."_

"_You… you do?" said the alicorn in surprise._

"_Ah, yes, that's it," said Star, her voice slightly slurred as if she was in a daze. "I think I can fix it. All you need to do is…"_

_Suddenly, the shield array activated, the console on the side of it lighting up._

_Just as suddenly, nine year old Star Strider began to shriek in pure agony._

_Twilight somehow found herself being propelled away from both Star and the shield array. She spread her wings in an attempt to stop herself, but she lost her balance and fell into a stack of books that she had stored in the corner, which toppled down around her. When she regained her hooves and turned back toward the center of the room, she could hardly comprehend what she saw. The shield array was active, but the shield that was being produced wasn't originating from the array itself. It was coming from _Star_ somehow. The filly was still screaming incoherently. Twilight quickly used her magic to manipulate the control console attached to the array to shut it down, but that didn't make the shield go away._

"_AAAAAHHHH!" Star cried, clearly in massive amounts of pain. "Turn… it… off! _Please!_"_

"_It _is_ off, Star!" shouted Twilight. "_You_ are doing this, somehow! Shut down your magic! Stop whatever it is you're doing!"_

_Just as suddenly as it began, the shield blinked out of existence and Star collapsed onto her side. Twilight rushed over to her, fearing the worst, but the filly raised her head and looked up at her. "What… happened, Twilight?"_

_Twilight didn't answer at first, but instead enveloped the young unicorn in a field of her own magic, probing for injuries. Breathing a sigh of relief that there was no obvious damage, Twilight continued her probing and said, "I… I honestly don't know, Star. I've never seen anything like that in all my years of studying magic. It… it almost seems like you somehow incorporated the workings of the shield array into your magic. I don't know how that's possible, but… well… you did it. No, Star, lie still. Don't move."_

_Star had been trying to get to her feet, but stopped at Twilight's words. "I don't hurt anymore, if that's what you're worried about. I just feel really tired, that's all. So… are you saying… that I have a shield spell now? I… I do think that I could do it again, if I really wanted to. But I'm afraid to try because it hurt so much."_

_Twilight shook her head. "Honestly, Star, I don't know what to make of it. Like I said, this is entirely new to me." She finally let her magic field die and said, "Well, I can't find anything wrong with you myself, so I think you'll be okay, but I'd still like to take you to the hospital to let the doctors check you out, just to be sure, and…" Suddenly, the alicorn's eyes widened. "Star! Look! Look at your flank!"_

_Star's eyes darted to her posterior and then they grew into saucers. "I have my cutie mark!" Thoughts of the previous ordeal all but completely fled her mind as the excitement of suddenly and unexpectedly gaining her cutie mark nearly overwhelmed her. "I have my cutie mark! I… wait… what _is_ it?"_

_Twilight studied the mark for a bit and said, "If I'm not mistaken, that's what is called an isolinear chip. That shield array there makes use of them, as does most Federation technology. Some of the newer stuff uses something called bio-neural gel packs, but the bulk of it still mostly runs on isolinear technology."_

"_W-what does it mean?" asked Star. "Why is that my cutie mark?"_

_Twilight looked down at the filly and smiled. "If you ask me, and you did, I think it means that maybe you have a much better chance of getting into Starfleet Academy than you were giving yourself credit for. Now, come on, let's get you to the hospital."_

_Twilight helped Star to her feet and they slowly made their way up the stairs. Star turned her head one last time at the top of the stairs and looked back down at the shield array, then looked back at her brand new cutie mark. The grin on her face was as wide as the Milky Way itself._

* * *

Nineteen year old Star Strider sat back and watched as Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Fluttershy crowded around Rarity, trying to get her to spill the beans.

Given that it had been after nighttime when they'd left from Fluttershy's medical facility, they'd taken the overnight train into Canterlot, with the train pulling into the Canterlot station just at the break of dawn. They could have just used the transporters in the facility to get there immediately, but ultimately opted against it, since they didn't want to get there in the middle of the night.

Once they'd arrived in Canterlot, Rarity had taken absolutely no convincing at all before she decided to close up her shop for a few days and flee the city with her friends. "Flee" seemed like the perfect word for it, in fact. It was rather shocking to the others how eager she had been to leave, even _before_ she'd known the reason they were there to begin with. She hadn't even bothered to call in one of her employees to take over the shop for her. She had simply closed the blinds, extinguished the lights, locked the doors, and put up a "Closed Until Further Notice" sign. They were all now on a pegasus-driven transport that was taking them on their way to Cloudsdale from Canterlot. As the white unicorn sat daintily on one of the seats, the other ponies stared at her. They all knew there was clearly something she wasn't telling them.

"So…" said Applejack. "Are ya _finally_ gonna tell us what lit the fire under yer cutie mark or not?"

Rarity affected an air of absolute innocence and said, "Dear Applejack, I haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about. I am merely coming along to help Twilight in her plan to retrieve Pinkie Pie, that's all."

"_Horse hockey_," said Applejack with a snort, eliciting a sharp indrawn breath of feigned discomposure from the elegant unicorn at the coarse language (and real ones from Twilight and Fluttershy), which the orange earth pony, of course, ignored completely. "I mean, sure, that's obviously _part_ of it, but…"

Rarity sighed and said, "All right. If you _must_ know, I'll tell you."

The other four ponies watched for a bit longer. After about fifteen more seconds had passed, Twilight said, "Okay… tell us what?"

Rarity sighed again, more dramatically this time, and said, "Do I _really_ have to?"

"Is something wrong?" asked Fluttershy timidly. "If there is, we'd like to help."

"Well," said the white unicorn, "when you put it that way… all right, I'll really tell you this time, but trust me when I say there's nothing you can do to help me. I'll have to handle this myself, eventually. Somehow." Another twenty seconds passed. Just as Applejack rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak again, Rarity silenced her with two words: "Prince Blueblood." The other three ponies looked at one another in bewilderment before turning back to Rarity.

"Prince Blueblood?" asked Twilight. "Princess Celestia's nephew?"

"Your date at the Grand Galloping Gala all those years ago?" asked Fluttershy.

"Yes," said Rarity, her voice beginning to harden with anger. "_Him_."

"Is he causin' ya problems again?" asked Applejack.

"You could say that," said Rarity. "He. Won't. Leave. Me. Alone!"

"What…?" said Twilight in confusion. "Why?"

Rarity sighed yet again and leaned back on the seat. "Well, I've been running my shop in Canterlot for several years now, as you all know, just minding my business and trying to make a bit. But then, just a year or so ago, who decides to grace my shop with his royal presence but Prince Blueblood himself? I was shocked, let me tell you. He was _right there_. In my shop. Asking me to make him an article of clothing. I was so angry I could spit tacks, but I didn't let it show. No, I was a perfect lady about the whole thing. Purely professional. I got his specifications written down and told him I would have the cloak for him in a few days, and then I waited for him to leave. And that's when he… he… oh, I can hardly bear to say it, it was so horrifying."

"What happened?" asked Star. Until this point, she'd been sitting somewhat apart from the others, because she didn't want to intrude upon their reconnecting, but Rarity's story had drawn her in just as it had the other three.

"Oh it was so _dreadful_," said Rarity, holding a hoof to her forehead. "He… he…"

"What?!" said Applejack, irritably. "Spit it out already, would ya?"

Rarity flashed the earth pony a cross look and said, "He… he… _asked me out._"

"He… asked you out?" said Fluttershy.

"What, you mean like… on a _date_?" said Twilight.

"That is _exactly_ what I mean," said the white unicorn. She bared her teeth as though this had been the equivalent of him threatening to pour living earthworms onto her mane. "Though 'date' isn't the word I would have used. The cloak he'd ordered was merely a pretense for him to have a reason to come into the shop in the first place, though it wasn't like he needed an excuse, being a prince and all."

"Even after all the stuff that happened between the two of ya at the Gala?" asked Applejack. "After that business with the cake, I thought he'd never wanna see ya again."

"That's just it!" said Rarity indignantly. "He didn't even _remember_ the Gala at first! All I was to him was just another pretty new face that had arrived in Canterlot and started to make a name for herself. Never mind the fact that I'd already been there for years by that point, he'd apparently only just become aware of me. I don't know if any of you have heard the rumors about dear Prince Blueblood, but… well… let's just say that he… er… _really gets around_, if you take my meaning. I was simply to be another of his… _dalliances_."

"I… don't understand," said Fluttershy, as she glanced at Twilight, who was blushing furiously. She turned to Applejack, who was rolling her eyes. "I haven't heard anything about this at all."

"Hooboy," said the earth pony. "Yeah, I've heard a bit about that myself, and I can see why that'd eat ya up, Rarity." Turning to Fluttershy, she explained, "What she means, Fluttershy, is that Blueblood… well… he really likes the mares. I mean… _really_ likes them. A _lot_. Enough so that it's rumored that he has a different marefriend, if ya can even call those hussies that, at his side every other week or so. He's built up quite a reputation for himself over just the past few years."

Fluttershy's face went even deeper red than Twilight's as she processed this.

"And I was to be one of those… hussies," said Rarity, the rage boiling off of her. "I wanted no part of it, so I asked him if he still liked cake. At first, the idiot didn't understand, but then he finally recalled who I was. I thought that would be the end of it, and he'd just turn his nose up and storm right out of the shop. That would have been the best possible thing. But, no… that just made it _worse_. He said that was all water under the bridge, and that he completely forgave me for my transgressions at the time. Can you honestly _believe_ that? _He_ forgave _me_ for _my_ so-called 'transgressions.' Then he said that, in retrospect, it had actually been kind of fun, and that if I wanted to splatter him with _more_ cake, I was more than welcome to do so. If you'd heard the tone of voice he was using when he said that, and the wiggling of his eyebrows… Ugh, I wanted to buck him right where Celestia's glory does not reach, and I would have done it too if the horrifying thought that he might have actually _enjoyed_ it hadn't crossed my mind. Well, that and the fact that if I had, my shop would have been flooded with royal guards before he even hit the ground. He _is_ still royalty, after all, hard as this is to believe.

"Ever since then, he's been coming by my shop at _least_ once per week, sometimes every other day… or even _more_ frequently. Often, he brings whatever mare-of-the-week who happens to be hanging off of him in with him as well. I don't know _what_ he hopes _that_ will accomplish. Maybe he thinks it will make me jealous or envious or something. No, if anything, it just makes me feel pity for the poor, deluded mare, thinking that she's going to be _The One_. Still, I prefer those days to the days when he comes in alone, because at least when he has another mare with him, he's not shamelessly flirting with _me_ the whole time. And it's just been getting worse and worse. The more I snub him, the more he seems determined to win my affections, and _I cannot stand it!_ If he had a single chivalrous bone in his body, I might actually consider it, but no. I've even spoken to Fancypants about the matter, but he doesn't want to get involved, given that it's Blueblood, though I do have his 'sympathies,' for what that's worth. I haven't had the courage to mention it to Princess Celestia or Luna yet, but if it keeps up I might just have to. So, yes, Applejack, that is what has 'lit the fire under my cutie mark,' as you so eloquently put it. A little time away from Canterlot and the shop will do me good."

"Want me to take care of it for ya?" asked Applejack, a wicked gleam in her eye as she spoke. She faked a yawn and stretched both of her hind legs conspicuously.

Rarity smirked, but shook her head. "I appreciate the gesture, Applejack, I really do, but I don't want to see you end up in prison for assaulting him any more than I want to go there myself for the same, tempting though it may be. Besides, this little problem isn't something any of you can help me with, aside from lending me an ear as I rant about it. I will need to take care of this myself, eventually, even if 'taking care of it' simply means running to Princess Celestia and begging her to do something about him. But enough about my little problem for now. We're almost to Cloudsdale."

The other four ponies turned and looked out of the windows. The magnificent cloud city was growing ever larger as they got closer. As Star watched, she began to let her thoughts wander again. Cloudsdale held a lot of good memories for her, but it also held more than a few terrible ones as well.

* * *

_Eleven year old Star Strider sat in the stands at the Cloudosseum, waiting for the big race to start. This one was special because it involved her two favorite Wonderbolts in a one-on-one race. To her right sat her mother, Cloud Seed. Her mom was almost as excited about this race as Star was. The seat to her left was surprisingly empty, however, given how big this race was going to be. That didn't last for long, though._

"_That seat taken?" said a voice from the aisle._

_Star idly looked up to respond in the negative, but her mouth dropped open in shock. Standing there was her _third_ favorite Wonderbolt. She quickly shook her head and the pegasus pony made her way to the empty seat._

"_Heya, squirt, I haven't seen you in a while," said Scootaloo as she sat down next to Star. "So, who do you think is going to win the big race?" She was wearing her own Wonderbolt costume, but with the head part of it undone and hanging loosely down her back. The fact that one of the Wonderbolts was sitting out in the regular seats rather than up in the boxes with the rest of the group was drawing stares from some members of the audience, but Scootaloo paid it no mind at all._

"_Well, duh," said Star, blowing a raspberry. "Dad, of course."_

"_You think so, huh?" said Scootaloo, sticking her tongue out as well. "You really think he'll be able to take Rainbow Dash this time?"_

"_It'll be pretty close," Star admitted. She looked up at the orange pegasus with the short purple mane and smiled. Back when they were all a lot younger (and when Star had still lived in Ponyville), Scootaloo had often babysat for her and the Cake twins, along with her two friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Star had always felt a bit of hero worship toward them, especially Scootaloo and _especially_ especially after Scootaloo had made it into the Wonderbolts a couple of years ago. Someday, Star was certain, Scootaloo would be the captain._

"_Yep, should be a very good race," said Scootaloo. "But it ultimately doesn't matter who wins. This is a race for charity, after all, and it's all in good fun."_

"_FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS!" said the announcer over the loudspeakers. "DIRECT YOUR EYES TO THE STARTING LINE FOR TODAY'S MAIN EVENT! IN POSITION #1 IS THE CURRENT REIGNING CHAMPION AND CAPTAIN OF THE WONDERBOLTS, RAINBOW DASH!"_

_From somewhere above the arena, a blue blur with a rainbow trailing behind it streaked in and did a quick loop-de-loop before landing at the starting line. Rainbow Dash bowed and began to wave to the crowd that was chanting her name._

"_AND IN POSITION #2 THE CHALLENGER! LET'S HEAR IT FOR STORM STRIDER!" called out the announcer._

_From the same place Rainbow Dash had appeared, so too entered another blue blur, this one trailing a stream of pure, multi-forked lightning behind it. The blur flew a quick, tight horizontal circle around Rainbow, causing her to flinch a bit in surprise, and then landed next to her. Storm Strider grinned at her and stuck out a hoof. Rainbow returned the grin and bumped his hoof with her own, before each of them took their places at the starting line, crouching down and preparing to launch at top speed._

"_ON YOUR MARKS… GET SET… GO!" yelled the announcer._

_And they were off. Rainbow Dash took the early lead, but Storm Strider was close behind her._

"_Pretty smart," noted Scootaloo. "Your dad's drafting behind Dash on purpose, letting her break the air for him. This isn't going to be a very long race though, as fast as they're moving, so he'd better be ready to pull off a miracle if he hopes to pass her at all. It's going to take more than a little bit of wind resistance to slow her down, after all."_

"_Look, he's making his move!" said Star._

_As fast as the two pegasi were moving, it was hard to follow the exact course of events as it happened, but everything was being recorded from multiple angles for posterity so they would all be able to witness and review in excruciating detail the beginning of the exact moment when Storm Strider almost died._

_Next to her, Star heard her mother muttering to herself. "Be careful, Storm. I've warned you about this. You're getting way too close to her. You're going to clip her as you pass her. Pull away, Storm. Please pull away. This race isn't that important."_

_And that's when it happened. That's when Star's world was turned upside down. In the blink of an eye, one of Storm Strider's wings made the slightest of contact with Rainbow Dash's flank as Storm tried to make his move to pass her, but that's all it took. He instantly fell out of sight below the view of the audience, and Rainbow Dash was halfway around the track again before she even realized anything was amiss. As soon as she did, she stopped in her tracks and looked down. A flash of terror lit her features and then she too was gone from sight. Less than two seconds later, the clouds of the stadium lit up from the explosion of the sonic rainboom from underneath. And then… nothing._

_As the seconds stretched into minutes, Star watched, stone-faced, as the rest of the Wonderbolts took flight from their boxes above the crowd and they too disappeared beneath the stadium, along with a team of medical pegasi._

"_Don't worry, you guys, I'm going to find out what the hay happened," said Scootaloo, her voice indicating a confidence she didn't actually feel as she raised her hooves and affixed the head gear and goggles into place. Then she, too, took to the air and dived below the clouds._

_More minutes passed as the crowd sat there in relative silence._

"_Star…" said Cloud Seed, trying to wrap a wing around her daughter._

_Star angrily shook her mother off. "No! He's going to be okay," she said with determination. Cloud watched her daughter with concern and a bit of surprise, but made no further attempts to embrace her._

_Still more minutes passed._

_Scootaloo finally returned around twenty minutes later and landed in the seat next to Star again. She raised her goggles and her eyes were red as she regarded Star and her mother. "They're taking him to Canterlot General. It… it doesn't… it doesn't look good. RD is with him now, but you guys should try to get there as soon as you can. I'll… I'll go make arrangements." With that, Scootaloo took to the sky and flew away again._

"_Come along, Star," said Cloud Seed, her voice hitching as she spoke. "We have to hurry."_

_Star felt completely hollow as she allowed herself to be led alongside her mother. Still, she shed no tears._

_About an hour later, they arrived at the Canterlot hospital. Cloud Seed had been allowed to go back, but Star had been forced to remain outside in the waiting room for the time being. As she sat there, she saw something that scared her more than anything else up to that point._

_Rainbow Dash was sitting in a chair in the corner, her head bowed. And, to Star's utter shock, the normally dauntless pegasus was openly weeping. Scootaloo stood next to her and was trying to calm her down, but wasn't having much success. Star mechanically turned her ears in their direction._

"…_couldn't get a hold of him, Scoots," Rainbow was saying, though it was difficult to make out with the way her voice kept breaking. "He was trying to get his spin under control but he couldn't do it. I don't think I would have been able to do it either, if I'd been in his place. I tried to get close to him, but… it was those lightning bolts of his, Scootaloo. Normally, they're harmless, but he was in a complete tumble and those things were flying out in every direction at random. He had no control over it. I tried to dodge, but one of them got me square in the chest. Knocked the wind out of me. Slowed me down too much. I finally powered through it and just barely managed to grab one of his wings in my teeth, but I lost my grip on him again. It slowed him down just enough that when he… when he hit the ground, he didn't immediately… I had to pull up or I would have slammed into the ground with him… Scootaloo, I… I couldn't save him. I thought I could save him the same way I did with Rarity and Spitfire and the others all those years ago, but I… I…" Words failed her as she melted into nothing but wracked sobs._

_Star got up and walked over to Rainbow Dash and stood in front of her. Rainbow looked up at her and was rather taken aback by the stony face that stared back at her. "You tried your best," said Star, her voice low and monotone. "It wasn't your fault."_

"_Oh, Star," cried Rainbow Dash, "I'm so sorry… dear Celestia I'm so sorry…" She leaned forward and grabbed Star in a tight hug, using her legs and wings for it. Star didn't try to avoid it, but she didn't return it either. "I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…" As the blue pegasus repeated this into her ear over and over again, Star felt something inside her beginning to slip. She still didn't cry, but she felt her eyes starting to moisten, even so. She locked eyes with Scootaloo, who was just standing there helplessly behind Rainbow Dash, her own eyes still red and puffy as well._

_It was around this time that one of the nurses came into the waiting room and looked around for a moment before approaching Star. "You can see him now, Star," said the nurse. "Please follow me." Rainbow Dash released her grip on the navy blue unicorn and nodded slightly, not trusting herself to speak again. Star didn't respond as she turned and robotically followed the nurse into the depths of the hospital._

_When the door to the post-op room opened, Star saw her father lying on the bed. Her mom was holding one of his hooves in both of her own. Her dad wasn't moving at all. He was merely staring at the ceiling, a single tear trail trickling from both of his eyes, which shifted in her direction when she entered the room._

_This is when Star finally felt her insides give way entirely. As she walked toward her dad, she felt the first sting of the tears as they started to stream down her cheeks. Her breath caught in her chest once, and then a second time, and then it was all over._

_Cloud Seed got up and allowed Star to take her seat, before moving away to talk quietly with one of the doctors. Star weakly fell into the chair and stared at her father, crying like she had never cried before in her life. She took his fore leg in her own, the same as her mother had before._

"_D-don't cry, little bug," said her dad, trying to be cheerful. "It'll be okay."_

"_What's wrong, daddy?" asked Star, trying to make herself understood around her sobs. "Your fore leg feels so… so limp."_

"_I…" said Storm Strider. "I'm not going to lie to you, Star. I'm in pretty rough shape right now. My… my back is broken. They were able to fix most of the rest of me, but they couldn't fix that. I can't move or feel anything below my neck. But… but don't worry, little bug. They're going to bring in a couple of specialists from the Federation. A Dr. Russell and a Dr. Crusher, I believe they said. They should be here first thing in the morning. The doctors here tell me that this sort of thing is right up their alley. They're going to make me all right again, just you wait."_

_The next few hours passed by in something like a blurred haze for Star. She didn't remember falling asleep at her father's bedside, but when she awoke, she found herself back in the waiting room again. Her mother and Rainbow Dash were still there, though Rainbow was dozing in her chair. Glancing at a clock on the wall, Star saw that it was almost noon._

"_Where's daddy?" she asked groggily. "Is he okay? Have the Federation doctors arrived yet?"_

_Cloud Seed looked down at her little filly and nodded. "They got here several hours ago. They've been in there ever since."_

"_What are they going to do?" asked Star._

"_I'm not sure exactly," said Cloud. "If I understood it correctly, they're going to… grow your father an entirely new spinal column somehow, and use that to replace the one that was broken in the fall. Apparently, the damage was too extensive to fix with traditional methods, or else the doctors here would have been able to do it. There are risks to the procedure, but without it, your father would never be able to move again."_

"_Risks?" asked Star, alarmed. "What sort of risks?"_

_Cloud Seed's face darkened a bit and she said, "Well… he… he might not survive the procedure. I wouldn't worry about it, though. Dr. Russell assured me that it was only a very remote possibility."_

_Star started to say something else, but the door to the waiting room opened. At the unexpected activity, Rainbow Dash jolted awake. She looked around blearily and then noticed the human female who had came through the door. "Hey, Dr. Crusher," said the blue pegasus. "Long time no see. How's Storm?"_

_The red-haired human doctor smiled at Rainbow and said, "Hello, Rainbow Dash." Then her smile faded a bit as she turned to face Star and Cloud. "Well, the good news is that the operation was a success. Storm will survive and be mobile again."_

_Cloud Seed sensed that there was something left unsaid. "And… the bad news?"_

_Dr. Crusher took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. "The bad news is that there were some complications. Storm will be mobile again… but not at the level he was previously. He will be able to walk around and even fly, but… I'm afraid that he almost assuredly won't be able to perform as a Wonderbolt ever again."_

_Star felt as though she'd been bucked right in the belly. Being a Wonderbolt had been her father's dream come true. She glanced at Rainbow Dash and saw that this news seemed to have hit her rather hard as well. Storm had been one of her close friends. They'd both trained together and had both entered the Wonderbolts at the same time. Star could only imagine what was going through the blue pegasus's mind at that moment._

"_Well, what matters most," said Cloud Seed, keeping her own feelings on the Wonderbolts issue mostly hidden, "is that he is alive and mostly well. Thank you for your efforts, doctor. They are indeed most appreciated."_

"_You're welcome," said Dr. Crusher. "I just wish we could have done more. Anyway, he's awake now and has requested to see you. You too, Rainbow Dash."_

_Star, Cloud, and Rainbow got up and followed the red-haired doctor back into the depths of the hospital once more._

* * *

Nineteen year old Star Strider flinched as she felt a hoof touch her on the shoulder. She turned her head to see Twilight Sparkle standing right next to her.

"You okay, Star? You looked like you were a million miles away," said the purple alicorn softly.

"I'm okay," said Star, getting out of the seat. "It was more like a million years."

"Yeah, I could tell," said Twilight. "I called your name three times, but you didn't respond at all until I touched you. Well… anyway, we've arrived in Cloudsdale, so I'll need to cast the cloud walking spell on you, Rarity, and Applejack, before we leave the transport. Are you ready?"

Star looked around nervously, noting that the other three ponies were standing at the exit of the transport, waiting on her and Twilight. "Ready for the cloud walk spell? Sure. Ready for what comes after? Not so much."

"You can't avoid your parents forever, Star," said Twilight, not unkindly. "It's the main reason you came here in the first place, isn't it?"

"You're right, of course," said Star, as they walked slowly toward the others. "Still, if it's all the same to you, I'd like to tag along with you for a while longer, at least until we meet up with Rainbow Dash."

"Okay," said Twilight, "but then I think you should go and visit them. I can come with you, if you want."

Star considered that for a bit, then said, "I… I do think I might like to have you along. And the others as well, especially Rainbow Dash, if she'll come."

Twilight nodded. As they reached the others, she turned to them and said, "All right ladies, let's put on your cloud walking shoes."

"Are you _sure_ you can't cast that delightful flutterpony spell on me again?" asked Rarity, batting her eyelashes at Twilight and smiling sweetly.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Sure, I _could_, but you know how draining that spell is. You'll just have to make do with walking on the clouds like the rest of us commoners." Coming from an alicorn princess, this was especially amusing to the other ponies.

"Oh phooey," said Rarity, pouting.

Applejack tried to suppress a snicker as she said, "Beside, Rare… ya wouldn't want Prince Blueblood catchin' sight of ya with those oh so pretty wings when ya get back to Canterlot, would ya?"

Rarity's eyes narrowed to slits and she growled, "I would _fly into the sun_ first."

"All the more reason not to cast the spell on you in the first place, wouldn't you say?" said Twilight, rolling her eyes a second time. "Now hold still, I only want to have to cast this once on each of you."

Fluttershy was standing off to the side, next to Star, watching with fondness as her friends bantered. "It's almost like the old days, isn't it?" she said happily.

* * *

To Be Continued…


	4. Pilot Episode - Part 4

It didn't take them long to find Rainbow Dash. Along with several other Wonderbolts, including Scootaloo, the blue pegasus with the rainbow colored mane was running drills at one of the training facilities in the center of Cloudsdale. At first, none of the Wonderbolts noticed the visiting ponies far below, but Scootaloo soon caught sight of them, nudging Dash to get her attention as well. A few seconds later, Rainbow dropped down and landed on the clouds in front of the group.

"Whoa. I thought I was just seeing things at first," said Rainbow, as she raised her goggles and unzipped the headgear, letting it drop down her back, "but you guys really _are_ all here. I don't think we've all been together like this since… since Pinkie Pie..." She sighed and looked down at the cloud she was standing on. "I'm sorry, guys. Haven't been talking for ten seconds yet and I'm already killing the mood." She looked up again and forced a smile. "So… what's up? What brings you all to Cloudsdale? It must be something pretty epic to get you all up here like this, right?"

"It's Pinkie Pie, actually," said Twilight.

"What?!" said Rainbow, her eyes widening as she started whipping her head back and forth between all of the gathered ponies. "Is she back?! Where is she? Why isn't she here with-"

"Whoa there, nelly," said Applejack. "We still don't know where Pinkie is yet, but that's why we've come to get ya. Twilight has a notion on how to get her back."

"We want to use the Elements to find her," said Fluttershy. "So we'll need your help, Rainbow Dash."

"Yes, we'll be going back to Canterlot soon," said Rarity. "Though there's no need to rush back on _my_ account, mind you." This got her a raised eyebrow from Dash and some eye rolling from the others. "I'll explain later," muttered the unicorn.

Rainbow Dash looked back and forth between her friends and said, "So this is some Elements of Harmony business, huh? Well, of course you can count on your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash for that, especially since it's for Pinkie Pie." She looked up at Scootaloo and cupped a hoof to her mouth. "Hey, Scootaloo, you can handle training all these tiny foals by yourself, right? Looks like I'm going to be taking a little trip for a day or two."

"No problem," replied the orange pegasus. "I got it covered. I might even have them eating solid food by the time you get back." Several of the Wonderbolt trainees shook their heads and some who'd raised their goggles during the lull in activity could be seen rolling their eyes, a few of them smirking as well. They took the ribbing in stride.

"That's what I like to hear, Scoots!" Dash nodded and turned back to her friends, lowering her voice again. "Well that takes care of that. So when do we leave? Aside from whatever's eating Rarity, I figure the sooner the better, right?"

"Actually," said Twilight, turning in Star's direction, "there's something else we should take care of before we leave Cloudsdale."

While the rest of the group were talking to Rainbow Dash, Star had moved a short distance away from them and was now standing alone and facing in what she knew to be the general direction of her parents' home. The expression on her face was entirely inscrutable.

Rainbow Dash looked at the younger pony with a bit of surprise, as she hadn't really noticed Star's presence until now. She opened her mouth to greet the young unicorn, but then stopped, as though considering something. Then she turned to her friends and said in a hushed whisper, "Girls… would you mind if I had a word with Star in private for a moment?"

"Not at all," said Twilight, lowering her voice in kind. "I think she might have wanted to talk to you first anyway. We'll just be over here watching the Wonderbolts practice." She and the other three ponies moved away and out of earshot.

Rainbow slowly walked up behind Star. "Hey, kid. Been a while."

Star flinched slightly, but otherwise didn't react. "Hey," was all she said in response to the pegasus.

"_Quite_ a while, actually," said Rainbow, keeping her voice even. "Four years, right? That's a pretty _long_ while, wouldn't you say?"

"Too long, I'd say," said Star, not able to bring herself to look at the pegasus.

"I know what happened between you and your parents," said Rainbow.

This got Star's full attention, finally. She turned to look at the pegasus. "Y-you do? I'm surprised they told you, given they didn't tell anypony else, even Twilight."

Rainbow shook her head. "Well, I kind of had to drag it out of your dad. He was acting like nothing had happened at first, like everything was perfectly fine, but I could tell. You don't train together with a pony for that many years without getting a feel for how they think, you know. Still, I could never get all of the details out of him. He just said that before you left, the three of you had an argument. That's all I know… but… it must have been pretty bad. I don't think your dad was quite so depressed even after… after the accident. And it kept _you_ away for a whole four years, so it _must_ have been bad. Star, what happened? Please tell me."

Star looked at the blue pegasus for a long while, saying nothing. Then, finally, she said, "All right. I'll tell you everything, but only if you promise to go with me when I visit my parents. That is… if you can still stand to look at me afterward."

Rainbow nodded her head and smiled. "I promise I'll go with you. I don't care _how_ bad it was, Star. All I know is that your parents miss you terribly. They… your dad… well… I don't think it's my place to say, actually. You'll have to hear it straight from them. Now go on, I still want to hear what happened."

Star took a deep breath and then let herself be enveloped in painful memories.

* * *

_**Star Trek: Pegasus**_

"Pilot Episode – Part 4"

By Kane Magus

* * *

_Fifteen year old Star Strider was absolutely livid. It was the same old argument every time the subject came up. She'd always eventually backed down and let the matter drop in the past, but not this time. Circumstances were different this time._

"_If I've told you once, I've told you a million times," Storm Strider yelled at her. "I will NOT allow my little girl to go off and join Starfleet. Why do you keep bringing this up, Star? I'm never going to change my mind on this issue. You should know that by now. You are not joining Starfleet!"_

"_And why not, dad?!" said Star, angrily. "This is only MY LIFE we're talking about here! Why can't I do as I wish? Please, give me _one_ reason why I shouldn't be allowed to go to Starfleet Academy. A GOOD one, that is. Not just 'because I say so.' I think I deserve at least _that_ much if you're going to stomp all over my dreams."_

_Storm was at a loss for words. Star watched him for a bit, then harrumphed and left the room. Storm grew ever angrier as he followed her. "We're not finished, Star! You don't just turn your back and leave in the middle of a conversation with me!"_

"_This isn't a conversation, dad!" shouted Star, wheeling around to face him again. "This is you trying to dictate to me how I should live my life. I've done everything you've ever asked of me. I even learned that cloud walking spell from Twilight Sparkle so that we could move here to Cloudsdale, even though I would much rather have stayed in Ponyville."_

_That stung Storm. "You… but I… I thought you _loved_ Cloudsdale."_

_Star stared hard at her father. She _did_ love Cloudsdale, at least once she'd had a chance to get used to it and accept the fact that they no longer lived in the place where she'd grown up. But right now, she'd be damned before she'd give her father the satisfaction of knowing that. It was petty, sure, but it kind of felt good, in a perverse way._

"_My point," said Star, veering away from the subject of Cloudsdale, "is that until now, I've been ever the good little filly, always doing as she's told, for the most part. But now, when there's finally something that _I_ want, and I want this more than _anything_, dad, you straight up refuse to even _consider_ it! Why?! Really, I want to know why."_

_Storm stared back at her, but then shook his head furiously. "I worry about you, Star! You _know_ that! I've _always_ worried about you. And now, you want to do something extremely dangerous and foolish like run off and get yourself killed in space on some cold, gray starship! I won't let that happen to my baby girl! I won't!"_

_For the briefest of instances, Star's rage started to break. For the slightest of moments, she saw herself through her father's eyes and understood. But then, her anger redoubled. Her voice dropped to an icy monotone. "You have that little faith in me? You think I can't hack it? You just don't think I have what it takes, do you?"_

"_It has _nothing_ to do with that, Star!" said her father. "It's just that-"_

"_No, I get it now. You're just jealous, aren't you?" interrupted Star. "You see me on the verge of living out my dream, and it just tears you all up inside, doesn't it? Your dreams were shattered years ago, at the same time as your back, and now you just want to keep me from achieving mine!" As soon as these thoughtless words had left Star's mouth, she immediately wished that she could call them back. The painful expression on her dad's face nearly broke her… but she couldn't back down now._

"_How DARE you speak to your father like that!" said the voice of Star's mother from directly behind her. Both Star and Storm Strider flinched, because neither of them had realized she was there until now. Star spun around and faced her mother._

_Cloud Seed's wings were both fully extended in anger as she advanced on her daughter, who backed away fearfully. "Your father is just looking out for your well being, and _this_ is how you treat him?!" she snapped. "I've _never_ seen such despicable behavior out of you before now. You apologize to him this instant, young lady!"_

_It was bad enough arguing with her father, but arguing with her mother was an entirely different ballgame altogether. Her mother was the disciplinarian between the two of her parents, and this was usually the point where Star meekly backed down, mumbled an apology, and then slunk off to her room to await whatever punishment might be coming. But she couldn't back down. Not this time. Too much was at stake._

"_I won't," said Star, almost too softly to be heard._

"_What did you say?!" said her mother ominously._

"_I said I will NOT apologize," said Star, doing something she'd never quite had the courage to do before today: raise her voice to her mother._

"_What has gotten into you, Star?" said her father, his anger ebbing and being replaced with apprehension. He, too, could tell that something was different this time._

"_I don't CARE what has gotten into her," said Cloud Seed. "I will not have my own daughter speak to me or to you in this fashion. Go to your room right now, Star. I'll be up later when I've cooled down and had time to come up with a suitable punishment."_

"_No," said Star. "I won't. You're just the same as him. You're just jealous because I'm on the cusp of achieving the _one_ thing I've been striving toward for over six years now." Cloud started to sputter out something else, but Star cut her off. "Don't even pretend to deny it. I've heard the two of you talking. You could have been a Wonderbolt yourself, mother. But you didn't pursue it. Instead, you just became a lame old weather pony just like pretty much every other pegasus in Cloudsdale. Just because _you_ were too afraid to pursue _your_ dreams, doesn't mean I'm going to be like that."_

_Silence fell in the wake of this. Cloud Seed was seething and Storm Strider was looking back and forth between his wife and his daughter, wishing he could turn back the clock and stop this argument before it had ever started. For her part, Star somehow managed to keep staring her mother in the eye, though she wanted little more than to turn tail and flee._

"_How _dare_ you," said Cloud, her voice dropping to a near whisper. "It's called _sacrifice_, Star. _Some_pony had to stay home and take care of you. If we'd both been off training for the Wonderbolts, who would have done that? Yes, it's true that I considered trying out for the Wonderbolts in the past. It's one of the things that drew your father and me together in the first place even as kids. And, sure, if you'd been born a pegasus, things might have been different, but…" Cloud Seed's eyes widened as she realized what she was saying, but it was too late to retract it now._

_Star was stunned. "Wow. All these years," she muttered, as tears started to stream down her face. "My _entire life_… you… you've been disappointed in me because I was born a unicorn rather than a pegasus, haven't you? I… I can't believe I'm hearing this… and yet… it all makes sense now. I forced you to move to Ponyville when I was born, because otherwise I would have fallen through the clouds since I was a unicorn rather than a pegasus. But you'd much rather have stayed here in Cloudsdale. If I'd been a pegasus, you would have been able to. And you didn't spare a single minute getting back up here when the opportunity presented itself again, did you? No. Well… maybe… maybe you _should_ have just let me wander off as a foal and fall through the clouds. That would have solved _everything_, right? Then there would have been nothing to stop you from pursuing your dream of being a Wonderbolt with dad."_

"Please_ don't say such horrible things, little bug," said Storm Strider. "It doesn't _matter_ that you were born a unicorn instead of a pegasus. Not in the slightest bit! We both still love you dearly, no matter what!" He was nearly in tears himself by this point. He wanted nothing more than to gather up his family in a big hug and just forget the whole thing, but he knew that was no longer really an option at this point._

"_Look at my cutie mark, Star," said Cloud Seed. Her voice was almost inaudible it was so low. "What do you see? Being a weather pony _is_ my dream. I knew that even _before_ you were born, believe it or not. It is what I'm best at. It is what I love doing. Any talk you may have overheard about me wanting to be a Wonderbolt in the past was nothing more than idle fancy. At this point, I wouldn't give up my job even if Rainbow Dash herself came here this very minute and _begged _me to join the Wonderbolts. Aside from Storm and you, Star, this is my life. And I wouldn't change that for anything."_

_Star glanced at her mom's flank and then said, "You want me to look at your cutie mark, as if that that explains everything. Well, mother, _you_ need to look at _my_ cutie mark. What do _you_ see? This is _my_ dream. I am going to be a Starfleet engineer."_

_Cloud narrowed her eyes and decided it was time to put her hoof down and end this foolishness, once and for all. "Not while you live under this roof, you won't," she said, in a tone that indicated she would tolerate absolutely no further disobedience. Cloud expected this would be enough to quash this little rebellion on Star's part, and return things to something resembling normal. Sure, Star would be angry for a while, but Cloud knew she would get over it eventually. She couldn't have begun to fathom just how wrong she really was._

_Star smiled viciously. In a morbid sort of way, she'd been waiting for one of them to say something just like that. She'd been hoping that it wouldn't come to this, but now that it had, it was time to drop the bombshell. "You're right," she said, fully in agreement with her mother. "Not while I live under this roof, I won't."_

"_What…?" said her mother, caught completely off guard._

_Star started backing slowly toward the door leading outside. "There's something you should know, before I leave this house forever. I've _already applied_ to Starfleet Academy. I've taken and passed all of the entrance exams months ago. Ambassador Jean-Luc Picard himself sponsored my entry, at the recommendation of Princess Twilight Sparkle. My first semester isn't supposed to start for another month, and I was hoping that in that time I would be able to _finally_ convince the two of you that this is what I really wanted, and have you finally give me your blessing, but as we all can see, that's _never_ going to happen, is it? Well, I've already made arrangements to have my things moved via transporter directly from my room to the shuttlecraft that will be taking me to Earth. I've already packed, just on the chance that this very thing happened, though I sorely wish it hadn't. I only have to give the word. And, so, with that said, I see absolutely _no_ reason why I shouldn't just go ahead and move out RIGHT NOW!" She was standing with her back to the door at this point. With an excessive jolt of telekinesis, she worked the handle of the door and smashed it open behind her. She looked at her parents one last time and said, "Good bye, mother. Good bye, father." And then she wheeled around and fled through the door at full gallop. As soon as she was past the threshold, she used her magic to slam the door back in the face of her mother, who had been moving to try to stop her, and then locked it behind her on top of that. She knew it wouldn't hinder them for long, but by the time they did get the door unlocked and opened again, Star would already be long gone._

"_Wait, little bug! Come back! Please!" she heard her father's muffled voice calling out to her from behind the door. The tone of it broke her heart, but she wasn't about to turn back now. With copious tears still streaming down her face, she made her way toward the Federation shuttlebay that had been built in Cloudsdale in the time before her family had moved back from Ponyville._

_By the time she'd reached the shuttlebay, however, she was all business. It took no time for her to get her affairs in order. She gave the transporter operator the coordinates to her luggage, which had been tagged with transponders precisely for this purpose. Seconds later it was sitting on the ground next to her. As soon as a shuttlecraft was cleared, which only took a few minutes, the luggage was then transported a second time onto the shuttle. And then, she was off. As the shuttlecraft launched and circled back toward the portal to Earth, Star gave one last look at her former home. Her heart felt heavy as it sank in that she most likely wouldn't be seeing it again for a very long while… if ever._

* * *

Nineteen year old Star Strider stood on shaky legs as she finished telling her story to Rainbow Dash. Finally, she just couldn't take it anymore, and sank down to her belly, resting her head between her front pair of knees. She felt the soft wing of the pegasus wrapping itself around her and also heard the distinctive sound of hooves on cloud surface as the other four ponies approached and then surrounded the two of them.

"What's goin' on?" asked Applejack. "Are ya all right, Star?" It was at this point that Star recalled that only Twilight and, now, Rainbow knew her story, and even with Twilight she hadn't gone into full detail as she had with Rainbow. And so, as she continued to lie on the cloud top, she gave them an abbreviated version of the full account she'd just given to Rainbow Dash.

"Oh Star," said Fluttershy, adding her own wing to that of Rainbow Dash. "That's… that's terrible. I'm so sorry."

"Yes," agreed Star. "It is. And so am I. To be honest, you guys hugging me up like this… well… it actually kind of makes me feel even worse. I don't deserve it."

"Nonsense," said Rarity. "As another pony who was, at one point, not entirely on the best of terms with her own parents, I have an inkling of what you're feeling now. And I agree with Twilight and Rainbow in that you definitely need to see your parents as soon as possible. Trust me, once you mend this bridge, you will feel worlds better."

"That's what Dr. Marie said, too," said Star, looking up at the white unicorn.

"Then this Dr. Marie must be a wise individual indeed," said Rarity with a wink.

Applejack toed at the cloud with one of her front hooves and said, "At least ya _have_ a chance to speak with yer folks again, for good or bad. I'd give almost anything to have such a chance as that again. I'm just glad me and my own folks weren't on poor terms when… when… well, ya know. If we had been, and then I never got to speak to 'em again, I… I don't know _what_ I would've done."

Applejack's words put things into perspective for Star. Even the remotest possibility of never seeing her parents again, of never having the chance to say how sorry she was, it tore at her insides. She then seriously considered, for the first time, exactly how it would have been for her parents if she had indeed been killed four days ago… if her mother or father had answered a knock at their door to be greeted by a grim-faced Starfleet officer with news of her death… That galvanized her into action. She stood up (which was slightly difficult with two different pegasi covering her with their wings) and looked in the general direction of her former home. Then she walked over and nuzzled Applejack. "Thanks," she said. "And… I'm sorry."

Applejack stiffened for a brief moment, and then returned the nuzzling. "It ain't nothin', sugar cube," she said. "Now c'mon, let's get ya to yer parents."

"And remember," said Twilight Sparkle. "We'll all be right behind you, every step of the way."

* * *

As the group of six ponies approached the door to the home of Star's parents, Star slowed to a stop and turned to face Twilight and the others. "Actually, you guys," she said, "while I do really appreciate you coming along with me, I've given it some more thought on the way over here and… well, I think I need to handle this on my own, without using you all as a crutch."

"I completely understand," said Twilight. "Still, we'll be out here if you do need us, even so."

The other five ponies watched as the young unicorn made her way nervously to the door. They ducked out of sight as Star reached up with a hoof and hesitantly tapped on the door. They collectively held their breath as the door finally opened and Star came face to face with her mother for the first time in four years.

"What're they sayin'?" whispered Applejack after a moment or two of trying to eavesdrop. "I can't hear 'em at all."

"Nor can I, if you keep talking," hissed Rarity irritably.

"Could ya hear 'em before?" asked Applejack, turning her head toward Rarity.

"Well… no, but…" said Rarity.

"Aw, that's so _sweet_…" Fluttershy gushed, causing both Rarity and Applejack to whip their heads back around toward the door. They caught the tail end of a massive hug between Star and her mother, and then the two ponies disappeared inside the house.

"Well, that was certainly a promising start, at least," noted Twilight.

"I'll say," said Rainbow Dash. "I really hope things work out between them."

A few moments passed, and then Rarity said, "So… what do we do now?"

"I say we wait for Star," said Fluttershy. "She might need us again soon."

"This might take a while, though, you guys," said Applejack. "So we'd better get comfortable. It's still the middle of winter, after all. We might be above the clouds and the snow, but it's still _cold_. How 'bout I go get us some coffee while we wait?"

* * *

Star tapped on the door and held her breath. Her thoughts were racing at warp ten as she waited for something to happen. Would they forgive her? Would they yell at her? Were they even at home in the first place? What if they…? All thoughts fled from her mind as the door creaked open and her mother stood there before her.

Cloud Seed looked at her daughter, whom she had not seen or heard from at all for over four years. She blinked once, and then twice more in rapid succession. Her eyes flicked down to the Starfleet uniform and then back up to the unicorn's face again. Finally, she opened her mouth and Star braced herself for whatever might be about to come out of it.

"You seem to have gotten a bit taller," her mother noted clinically.

Star looked at her mother blankly. That certainly wasn't what she'd been expecting, at all. "I… guess I have," she said. "I hadn't really noticed."

Her mother continued to study her face, seeming as though she were merely watching the clouds roll by or something similarly mundane. But then Star noticed her mother's lips beginning to tremble. And then she noticed the wetness on her mother's face below her eyes. She didn't notice many more details beyond that because her own vision was starting to blur from tears as well. And then, finally, her mother rushed forward and wrapped Star in a gargantuan hug. Both of them were now openly sobbing, and neither of them cared in the slightest who might be witnessing it.

After what seemed like a small eternity, though it was really no more than a few seconds at most, her mother released her and stepped backwards into the house, gesturing with her wing in an invitation to enter. Star followed her mother inside as the door closed behind them.

Star started to say something, but her mother held a wing tip to her lips, indicating for her to hush. She glanced at her mother in surprise, but Cloud grinned and whispered, "Your father is in the living room. I want to surprise him. I can't _wait_ to see the look on his face when he realizes that you're here." Star wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but she nodded and followed her mother. As they approached the door, Cloud Seed held up a hoof and whispered, "Wait here, just out of sight." Then she entered the room.

"Who was at the door, dear?" Star heard her father say. She felt her heart beat increase and her knees get weaker at the sound of his voice. Oh how she had missed her parents so very much. It was all she could do to keep from bounding into the room that very moment, but she decided to play along with her mother, since it would be even better that way. While her mother might have been a strict disciplinarian most of the time, she also had a bit of a mischievous streak as well, and it had always delighted Star when that side of her mother's personality came foreword as it seemed to be doing now.

"I'll give you three guesses," said Cloud Seed, trying to keep her face straight.

Star heard the confusion in her father's voice, and had to suppress a giggle. "What? Why can't you just tell me?"

"Go on, spoilsport! Guess," said her mother. Star could just imagine the look of exasperation on her father's face, and had to stifle another giggle.

"Was it Rainbow Dash?" asked Storm, after a short pause. "She's been bugging me to come to some of the Wonderbolts training sessions lately, even though she knows I wouldn't be of much use to her or any of them. I don't really understand it."

"No, it isn't Rainbow Dash," said Cloud, doing everything she could to keep from prancing in place in excitement.

"Um… well, was it Thunderlane coming to _finally_ pay back the three hundred bits he owes me?" asked Storm. "I know we're not really hurting for money, but it'd still be nice to get that back sometime this century, you know?"

"Nope, not Thunderlane," said her mother. Storm snorted in disappointment.

Star could tell her father was starting to get frustrated, and felt more than a little bit bad for him. However, he had one more guess left, and she was curious to see who it would be.

He decided to be flippant with his final guess. "Okay, I've got it. It was Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, and Princess Twilight Sparkle, all coming to let us know about a new empire they've just discovered-slash-founded and how they want _us_ to be the rulers of it. Am I pretty close this time?"

Cloud giggled and said, "No, it's not any of the princesses. It's _even better_."

"Wait… what? Better than the princesses?" said Storm, dubiously. "There's only one thing in this world that could possibly be better than a visit from the princesses, and that's…" Star's father's voice took on a hopeful tone. "Wait… no… it can't be… Could… could she really be…?" The dubious note returned. "You're not putting one over on me, are you, dear? You know I don't mind your pranks, but this one's not very nice at all. Unless…" The hopeful note returned.

Star couldn't bear to keep her father in such suspense any longer, especially after he had pretty much guessed correctly, on his fourth guess out of three. She tore around the corner and threw herself at him, wrapping her front legs around him and nuzzling him like she'd never nuzzled anypony before in her life. While she did love her mom dearly, no doubt, she'd always been more than a bit of a daddy's girl.

At first, he stiffened and didn't respond, causing Star's heart to leap up into her throat in fear that he was about to reject her harshly. But then his entire body relaxed and he almost sank to his knees completely. He probably would have if she hadn't been holding on to him so tightly.

"Is… is that really you, little bug?" he said, finally managing to get his own forelegs up and around her, along with his wings as well.

"Yes, dad, it's really me," she said, starting to cry again. "I'm home."

"Oh dear Celestia," her dad said, his voice threatening to break as well. "I can't believe it. I must be dreaming." He stepped back and held her at the length of his fore legs. "Let me take a good look at you." She stood still, smiling all the while as tears streamed down her face while he looked her over. "You've gotten a bit taller, I think."

"Oh daddy," said Star, moving forward to embrace him again. Then she looked over his mane at her mother, who was watching both of them through the tears in her eyes. Star's look was all the prompting Cloud needed to turn it into a group hug.

They stayed like that for several minutes, and Star didn't even try to keep count. All she could do was try to contain the wellspring of emotions that were churning around inside her. Joy at finally seeing her parents again, relief that they seemed to be just as happy to see her, anxiety that once the initial rush died down things might turn ugly again, vague fear that she might indeed just be dreaming herself, as her father had said.

Finally, they all calmed down enough that tentative conversation was possible. Storm and Cloud sat down on the sofa, while Star took a seat opposite from them. Star had some things she needed to say and she needed to say them _now_, as quickly as she could get them out, before she lost her nerve altogether.

"I am so, so, _so _very sorry for the way I spoke to you when I left," she said, her eyes somehow managing to produce even more tears. "I was _horrible_ to you both, and… and there is really nothing I can say to take any of that back. All I can do is to tell you how incredibly awful I feel about it and hope that you will forgive me, even though I know I don't really deserve it."

"My little light in the night," said her mother. "You don't have to say anything at all. All three of us said terrible things that day that we can't take back. The past is the past. All we can do is move forward from here and try not to let history repeat itself."

"Of _course_ we forgive you, little bug," said her father. "I just hope you can forgive us as well."

"I do," said Star, not bothering to fight the hitch in her voice, "wholeheartedly. I was so very stupid. I deleted your messages when you tried to call me, and I never tried to call you back because I was so scared of what would happen. And I felt that if I couldn't talk to you then I didn't deserve to talk to anypony else either."

Her parents looked at one another in shock, and then turned back to her.

"Wait," said Storm. "You mean you haven't talked with _anypony_ from home in all this time? Not Twilight or Rainbow Dash or Scootaloo?"

"Not even Pound or Pumpkin Cake?" asked her mother.

Star simply shook her head in the negative.

"You mean you've… been all alone? All this time?" said her dad, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes once again as he contemplated it.

"Well, I haven't been _alone_," said Star, trying to soothe her dad before he broke down again. "I was surrounded by dozens of my fellow students at the Academy and made quite a few friends there. But, no, I haven't had any contact with ponies at all in the past four years, except for a clerk at the San Francisco branch of Carousel Boutique during my first year, and a few DJ Pon-3 and Octavia concerts over the course of the first two years. And… yeah… I did miss it. A lot. If it makes you feel any better, I did see most everypony after I arrived. In fact, Twilight and Rainbow Dash and their friends are probably still waiting outside right now."

Storm turned to his wife with a playfully smug look on his face. "See? I was right all along, with both my first _and_ my third guesses!"

"Hey, you said Celestia, Luna, and Cadance were out there as well," protested Cloud. "Besides, _I_ didn't know they were out there either, so it doesn't count!" She shook her head at him good naturedly and then turned back to Star. "Anyway, they'll just have to wait a little longer, because I want to hear all about it. What have you been doing for the past four years? We want to hear _everything_."

Star looked at her parents with utmost fondness. Oh how she had missed being with them. They wanted to hear everything and she wanted to _tell_ them everything, and so, Star launched into a verbal highlight reel of everything that had happened to her during her years at the Academy.

* * *

"And that brings me to now," said Star, as she finished her account of her Academy days. "I just received my first posting on a brand new starship. Now, brace yourselves."

"Why?" said Storm, somewhat alarmed. "Did something happen?"

"I'm about to tell you the name of the ship," said Star, with a smirk.

"What?" said Cloud. "It's not _Puddinghead_ or something crazy like that, is it?"

Star opened her mouth in silent surprise, and then broke into a fit of giggles. Her parents grinned in response to her delight. Getting control of herself, Star shook her head and said, "Well, when you compare it to _that_, I guess the USS _Pegasus_ doesn't sound _so_ weird after all."

Her mothered snickered. "Wait… _really_? You're on a ship named the _Pegasus_? I mean… _seriously_?"

"It gets better," said Star. "We got towed back to Deep Space Twenty by a ship called the _Crazy Horse_."

Her mother laughed out loud at this, but Star noticed her dad's face had suddenly gotten a sober look on it when she'd said "towed." Uh oh.

"Why did your ship need to be towed?" he asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.

Star felt her pulse quicken again. She hadn't been sure quite how to broach this particular subject with her parents, but…well… with a bit of levity was as good a way as any, she supposed, if not necessarily all that appropriate.

"We… ran into a bit of trouble during our first mission," said the unicorn. "Well, more than just a bit, honestly." She then gave them an account of that mission. She made sure to leave out the more terrifying details, but she still told them enough for them to get the gist of it. She finished by looking her dad square in the eye. "For a moment there, when I was trying to prevent the helmsman from being sucked out into space… well, I have to admit that I thought about you and about how your worries for me were about to become perfectly justified."

Storm shook his head and visibly shivered. "Thank Celestia I was wrong."

"But your magic…" said her mother, her voice full of concern and sympathy. "Oh, my poor little girl, we'll do everything we can to help you recover it."

Star shook her head and said, "Don't worry about it, mom. There's not a whole lot you can do for it anyway. It'll just… take some time, that's all. I'm sure I'll be okay again, soon enough."

A silence fell over them at this point. Star took the opportunity to shift her gaze around the room. For the most part, everything was just as she had remembered it, but her eye was immediately drawn to the mantelpiece above the crackling fireplace behind her parents, because it was the one thing in the room that was rather different than she recalled, mainly because it was now filled almost to overflowing with pictures of _her_. There was a picture of her as a newborn foal, being held by her mother in the hospital bed, while her father stood over them, staring into the eyes of his newly born daughter for the first time. There were pictures of her first steps, her first tooth, her first play date with the Cake twins, her first day of school, her first day of study with Twilight Sparkle, and many other firsts. However, in the center, occupying the largest frame, was the picture of her dad, staring into the camera and grinning, her mom, wrapping a wing around her daughter and looking down at her, and Star herself, gazing up at her dad. It was the same picture that currently sat on the nightstand in her quarters aboard the _Pegasus_. Star's eyes surprised her by once again managing to produce more tears.

"I see you noticed your dad's little photo gallery," said Cloud Seed.

"Yeah… heh, I guess I got a little carried away," said Storm Strider, blushing a little bit.

Star blinked back her tears and regarded her parents once more. "I… I don't know what to say."

"We never forgot about you, my little light in the night," said her mother. "Every day that went by without knowing how you were doing… it was… difficult."

"When you first left," said her dad, "your mom tried to follow you, but I ran up to your room instead. I didn't believe you when you said you were leaving forever. I thought you were just angry and that you'd be back soon, but… I had to see for myself to make sure. You had the door to your room locked, but I finally got it open… and I ran in just in time to see all of your things vanishing into thin air. That was when it really hit me. And then, when your mom came back without you, I…" He shook his head and averted his eyes. "After that, all we had to remember you by were the pictures."

Star felt horrible all over again and started to apologize once more, but her dad abruptly stood up, silencing her.

"No, no, little bug," said Storm. "No more need for that. I'm sorry… I just got a bit overwhelmed there for a bit. I didn't mean to upset you again. There is, however, one thing we need to get done, as soon as possible. I'll be right back."

Star watched as her dad trotted out of the room, wondering what he was talking about. She glanced at her mom, who just smiled knowingly. And then, when her father returned, she understood as well.

"We need to take a picture of our little girl's first day back home in her stylish new Starfleet uniform," said Storm, grinning at her as he set up the camera.

* * *

"How long have they been in there?" asked Rarity, who was sort of dancing in place, trying to return the feeling to her hooves. They'd been standing out in the cold ever since Star had moved to knock on the door.

"Not too long," said Twilight, who was calmly sipping one of the steaming cups of coffee that Applejack had brought back for them.

"I'd say 'round half an hour or so," said Applejack. "Maybe forty-five minutes."

"What's the matter, Rare?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Forgot to bring a few dozens scarves with you? Heck, I don't even see a travel bag. You must have left Canterlot in a pretty big hurry. So… when are you going to tell me what's up with that, anyway?"

"Right now is not the time for such things," huffed Rarity.

"Shh!" said Fluttershy suddenly. "Look! The door is opening!" The five ponies tensed up as the door opened and Star walked through, but immediately relaxed when she flashed a wide smile at them. All of them broke out into smiles of their own when Storm Strider and Cloud Seed joined her at the door.

"Heh, Star told us you guys were out here," said Storm. "So… what? Did you all really just stand around in the cold for the past hour or so?"

"Takes more than a little cold and a little waiting to bother us," said Rainbow Dash. "Hey Storm, glad I got this chance to talk to you again. When are you gonna come visit us at Wonderbolts HQ? Spitfire and Soarin' and the rest of the old timers miss you, and the newbs have heard so many stories that they'd probably die of excitement as soon as you walked through the door."

"Dash," said Storm, frowning slightly, "you _know_ I'm not cut out for the life of a Wonderbolt anymore. Haven't been for quite a few years now."

"Aw, c'mon Storm. I'm not asking you to come and _race_ or anything," said Rainbow. "Just come hang with us for a while, that's all. No pressure."

Storm's face lighted up a bit. "Well… I'll think about it. Anyway, what brings all of you here to Cloudsdale? Surely you're not all here just to serve as backup in case things went south between us and Star, are you?"

Twilight shook her head and said, "Well, that was part of it, but mostly we're here to fetch Rainbow Dash. We've got some Elements of Harmony business back in Canterlot. Star's own business here is just a happy coincidence, and I'm glad to see that it seems to have been resolved on a high note."

Star turned around to face her parents. "Speaking of which… I know I just got here and all, but… I want to go back to Canterlot with them. I've come with them this far, and I'd like to see it through to the end. I doubt this will take too awfully long, and I've still got almost a full two weeks of leave left, so don't worry about not seeing me again before I go back to the _Pegasus_."

Cloud Seed smiled and said, "And don't you worry about us. We're perfectly fine now that we have you back, in more ways than one. We've waited four years, so one or two more days won't kill us." She turned back to the other five ponies. "You say this has something to do with the Elements of Harmony though, right? I'm no expert or anything, of course, but… don't you need Pinkie Pie for that? I see she's not with you, so I have to assume that she's still…"

"That's what this is all about, actually," said Twilight. "We're hoping to use the Elements in an attempt to find her." She didn't bother to mention yet again that this is something that they could have tried years ago, had she only considered it before now.

"Well, I hope it all works out," said Storm. "It would be nice to see Pinkie Pie again. She always threw the best parties. You go on and help Twilight however you can, Star. As your mother said, we'll definitely still be here when you get back."

Star moved forward and hugged both of her parents. "I'll be back soon."

Twilight waited until Star turned back and moved to join them. She turned to regard her friends and said, "All right, girls, let's head back to Canterlot. This time, the destination is the Royal Palace."

* * *

"HA HA HA ha ha ha ha!" Rainbow Dash was all but literally rolling on the ground as they made their way into the Royal Palace. The trip back from Cloudsdale had been mostly uneventful, aside from Rarity finally and grudgingly bringing Rainbow at least partially up to speed on her issues with Prince Blueblood.

"I _knew_ telling you about my problems would be a big mistake," said Rarity darkly. "I still fail to understand what is so amusing, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow fought to control her mirth. "It's just… it's just that you spent _so_ much time telling us all about how you were looking for Mr. Right, how it was part of the reason you were moving to Canterlot in the first place and all… and now you have _Prince Blueblood_ of all ponies practically throwing himself at you. Wasn't he your big dream pony at one point in time?"

"I'm _still_ looking for Mr. Right," said Rarity, more than a bit testily. "And Prince Blueblood most definitely is _not_ Mr. Right. You do recall what happened at the Grand Galloping Gala all those years ago, don't you?"

"Well, I remember something about cake," said Rainbow with a shrug, "but after that I was a little too busy dodging falling columns and small woodland creatures. Come on, Rarity. Is Blueblood really all _that_ bad?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "I reckon ya ain't heard all the rumors about him."

"What rumors?" said Rainbow. "I don't usually pay attention to that kind of stuff unless it involves the Wonderbolts. All I knew was that Blueblood was just the hoitiest-toitiest of all the hoity-toity Canterlot snobs, even including Hoity Toity himself. Are you saying that Blueblood is somehow even _worse_ than that now?"

"He… uh…" said Fluttershy, her cheeks roughly the same shade as her mane. "He… they say he… uh… _really_ likes the mares?" She glanced back and forth between Rarity and Applejack, trying not to die of embarrassment.

Applejack grinned at the yellow pegasus, but Rarity nodded primly and said, "That's exactly right. Thank you, Fluttershy. Prince Blueblood is a cad of the highest sort. I want nothing whatsoever to do with him."

Rainbow Dash just shrugged and said, "Fair enough. I guess I can understand that. I certainly wouldn't want to get mixed up with a guy like that. Annnywaaay… we're almost to the throne room. What are you going to do if Blueblood is there, Rare?"

Rarity's eyes widened. "Oh my… I… I hadn't considered that at all." She whipped her head back and forth as though looking for a place to hide.

"Relax, Rarity," said Twilight. "I've written ahead and requested a private audience for this. The only ones who will be present there are Spike, Princess Celestia and ourselves. You shouldn't have to worry about Blueblood at all, at least for now."

"Oh thank you, Twilight! You think of everything!" said the white unicorn.

All conversation ceased as they reached the huge doors that lead into the throne room itself. Twilight let her magic flare momentarily, and then the doors opened. Star, who had once again been unobtrusively hanging back away from the others, craned her neck to look around as they entered the throne room. While this wasn't the first time she'd ever been inside the opulent chamber, it never failed to impress her. Her eyes swept from the huge windows to the high arched ceiling before finally settling on the throne. Sitting upon the throne was the Sun Princess herself, Princess Celestia. Curled up on the floor next to her was Spike, who was currently fast asleep. Celestia subtly nudged the adolescent dragon awake and then rose from her throne. Spike raised his head and blinked a couple times, then rose to his feet as well.

"It's about time you guys got here," he grumbled. "I've been waiting for over a day now."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "And I'm sure you suffered terribly while you were here. Anyway, do you have the special communicator that Ditzy Doo should have given you? We need to contact her now and have her transport my equipment down here."

"Got it right here," said the dragon. "Catch." He tossed the small, green piece of metal that was shaped vaguely like a beetle (which Star recognized, to her surprise, as the emblem of the Ferengi Alliance) toward the purple alicorn. Twilight caught it in her magic and activated it.

A voice crackled from out of the device. "Ditzy Doo Deliveries! How can I help you?" Because Ditzy Doo's shuttlecraft was usually in orbit somewhere above the planet, the communicators, for which she'd found schematics in the shuttle's computer and which she replicated and gave out to her customers, were almost always within range of her ship. The only time she couldn't be immediately contacted was when she was on the other side of the portal to Earth.

"Hi, Ditzy Doo," said Twilight. "This is Twilight Sparkle. Do you have my delivery ready?"

"Yep," said the cheerful voice from the other end. "Got it right here, all ready to transport down. Just let me know where you want it."

"I'd like you to place it on the ground at the base of the ramp leading to Princess Celestia's throne," said the alicorn. "You have the coordinates I gave you, right?"

"Sure do," said Ditzy Doo. "All right, everypony! Stand back." Twilight likewise motioned for her friends to make room at the base of the ramp. Seconds later, amidst a large downward spiral of twinkling blue energy, a large piece of equipment appeared in the throne room. Star's eyes widened a bit as she got a look at it, because it was something that she immediately recognized.

Shortly after the materialization of the equipment, another, much smaller spiral of energy appeared next to it. Once it dissipated, it left behind a grinning gray pegasus with blonde mane and tail, who was wearing a brown uniform and matching cap and holding a PADD in her teeth.

"Sigh hlease," said Ditzy Doo.

"What?" said Twilight, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't quite catch that."

"Ah seh…" said Ditzy Doo, setting the PADD down on the floor at Twilight's feet. "Sign please."

"Oh, right," said the alicorn. She levitated the PADD and the attached stylus, marking it with her signature. She floated it back over to Ditzy, who took it once more in her mouth.

"Hank hou," said the gray pegasus. "Hlease cah ah Dihsy Doo Deliheries ehytihe." She paused for a moment, rolled her eyes, and set the PADD down again. "I mean… Thank you. Please call on Ditsy Doo Deliveries anytime."

Twilight smiled and said, "I'll be sure too. Thank you very much, Ditzy."

Ditzy's grinned widened and she nodded. Then she clicked another green, beetle-like emblem that was attached to her uniform, which chirped in response, and said, "Job complete. Beam me up, Dinky!" She quickly picked up the PADD again, nodded to all of the assembled ponies, and then disappeared once more in a spiral of blue energy.

Princess Celestia and Spike moved down the ramp toward the other ponies. Celestia looked curiously at the device on the floor of her throne room and said, "So what's this about, Twilight? I already know that you have something you want to try to do with the Elements of Harmony, but I don't understand why you need this… whatever this thing is."

Twilight started to speak, but then smiled and turned to Star. "Hey, Star, would you mind doing the honors and explain to Princess Celestia what this piece of equipment is? Then I'll explain why I need it."

Star stepped forward and barely gave the device a glance before saying, "Sure thing. It's the sensor array for a Starfleet runabout. This is another piece of tech that you got from them, right?"

Twilight nodded and said, "That's right. This arrived a few weeks ago, and I took a small break from my efforts to locate Pinkie Pie to do some tinkering with it, because I thought it might aid me in those efforts. In fact, I think this will help us with the upcoming spell, which is why I had it brought here. The spell that I found is supposed to be able to locate any missing Bearer of Harmony by focusing in on the corresponding Element of that Bearer. It requires that all of the other Bearers be present. However, the problem is that the spell's range is limited, relatively speaking. I mean, if Pinkie Pie was anywhere on this planet, there would be no problem, and we'd find her immediately, but I think we can safely assume that she's not on this world at all anymore, given her stated intention to visit other worlds. So, what I want to try to do is to combine this location spell with the work I've done on the sensor array. In my experiments, I was able to increase the range of the sensors by a factor of around ten thousand."

Star's jaw dropped. She walked around to stand directly in front of the purple alicorn and stared at her. It took her several seconds to regain her ability to speak, but when she finally did, she said, "Are you serious? The normal maximum range of this thing is somewhere between fifteen and twenty light years. If what you say is true… then you have increased the range by up to _twice_ _the width of the Milky Way galaxy itself_."

"That's correct," said Twilight, nodding as though this were no big deal at all. Star merely shook her head incredulously as the alicorn continued to speak. "Granted, the resolution at such extreme ranges is almost nothing, which isn't very useful for standard use. I wasn't able to improve upon that at all, so it's not as impressive as you might think. It's not all that much more useful than with the normal range, really. You'd be able to tell that _something_ is there, but you would have no way of knowing _what_ it might be. However, I don't think that will be an issue with this particular spell. The Elements of Harmony themselves will be doing the identification, not the sensors. All the sensors need to do is be able to provide the detection range. If Pinkie Pie is anywhere in the galaxy, we should hopefully be able to find her. If she's _not_ in this galaxy… well… there's not much we can do in that case, so we'll just have to hope we get lucky. In any case, are you girls ready? I'd like to get started as soon as we can."

With that, the other four Bearers of Harmony took up positions around the sensor array. Princess Celestia brought out the Elements of Harmony, which had been placed back into her care after Pinkie Pie had disappeared, and levitated each piece of jewelry to the appropriate pony, ending with placing the tiara upon Twilight's head. As for the Element of Laughter, however, Celestia just looked at Twilight with a questioning look in her eyes.

Twilight nodded and levitated the Element of Laughter necklace to the sensor array, laying it to rest on top of the center of the machine. "Ready?" asked the purple alicorn once more.

"Sure am," said Applejack.

"You bet," said Rainbow Dash.

"Definitely," said Rarity.

"I really hope this works," said Fluttershy.

"Well, we're about to find out," said Twilight. "Here goes." She activated her magic again, focusing it on the sensor array and the Element of Laughter. The other ponies stiffened slightly as their own Element necklaces began to glow. Energies the colors of the jewels set in their respective necklaces snaked out of the jewels and flowed toward the one in Twilight's tiara. When the energy flows reached the tiara, all of their eyes started glowing pure white. After that, a rainbow wave of energy floated out of the jewel in the tiara, circled once around all of the Bearers, and then made a beeline for the Element of Laughter once it had reached Twilight again. As soon as it made contact, all of the Bearers of Harmony gasped in unison.

"This… this is _amazin_'," said Applejack breathlessly.

"It's like I can sense everypony in the world," said Rarity in quiet awe.

"Not just the ponies," said Fluttershy, smiling broadly. "I can feel _all_ of the living creatures, even the plants."

"This is so rad," said Rainbow Dash. "Anypony feel Pinkie Pie yet, though?"

"No," said Twilight, "it's as I suspected. She's not on this world. All right, guys, brace yourselves. I'm going to dual cast my spell on the sensors now." The purple magical field around the sensor array intensified as the machinery came to life. All of the ponies in the circle around the array staggered a bit.

"Holy mother of Celestia!" said Applejack with a gasp. She glanced in the direction of the Sun Princess and quickly added, "Er… beggin' yer pardon, Princess." Celestia just smirked, saying nothing.

"What the hay…" said Rainbow Dash. "Whoa, this is such a trip."

"I can feel… _everything_," said Fluttershy in quiet wonder.

"I'm… actually starting to feel a little queasy," said Rarity uncertainly. "And I still don't sense Pinkie at all."

"Give it a little time," said Twilight. "I'm trying to fine tune both spells."

Meanwhile, as she stood a bit apart from the others, Star watched this unfold with a sense of astonishment. The room was filled with magic that, even as a unicorn, she couldn't even _begin_ to comprehend. This was in a whole other league from the relatively minor spells that Twilight had tried to teach her, and she hadn't even been able to master _those_, so what was happening now was completely beyond her. As she watched, however, she noticed something else. She gasped in surprise as her own horn began to glow. Somehow, someway, this spell, or maybe just the Elements of Harmony in general, were restoring her magical abilities that she'd lost from burnout. A slow grin spread across her face as she continued to watch the other five ponies do their thing.

"I'm boosting the spell on the sensors now," said Twilight. "They're already about as far as they're going to go, though, and I still don't sense Pinkie Pie at all. Hold on… …wait… no! No! Girls, get back! I'm cancelling the spells!" As she spoke, the sensor array began to spark and emit a plume of acrid, black smoke. Just in time, the five Bearers of Harmony managed to get far enough away before a wave of electricity briefly covered the outer surface of the array and then the whole thing died. Luckily, the Element of Laughter was unharmed by this, but the sensor array itself was now useless.

"No…" said Twilight softly, but then her voice got louder. "No! NO! This should have worked! Even if we didn't find Pinkie herself, we _at least _should have gotten a trace! Why didn't it work?! Why?!" Tears were in her eyes as she stared at the broken sensor array. She sank to her knees. "Pinkie Pie… I'm sorry…"

"My most faithful student," said Celestia, falling into old habits even though Twilight hadn't really been her official student for almost two decades now. "You tried your best. Don't feel discouraged."

"No, you don't understand, Princess," said Twilight. "This was _it_. This was our last, best hope of finding Pinkie Pie, but now… I don't know _what_ to do now."

Star moved to stand next to Twilight. She was looking carefully at the damage to the sensor array. "It _might_ not be as bad as it looks," she mused, almost to herself.

"What?" said Twilight, looking up at her own one-time student. "Wait… Star! Your magic! It's back!"

"Huh?" said Star, who had already activated her own magic field to envelope the sensor array. "Oh, yeah, that happened during your spell just now. I guess it was some Elements of Harmony mojo or something. I can't really explain it, but it just sort of came back." Her voice sounded sort of far away, as though she weren't fully paying attention to her surroundings. "Anyway, now that it's back, I might be able to fix this."

The other Bearers of Harmony and Spike gathered around Celestia, Twilight, and Star, watching the latter work.

"Hmm… it's pretty far gone, though," muttered Star, mostly to herself. "This'll be pretty tricky. I need to… to…" Her eyes suddenly widened. "Whoa… _whoa_…" Her horn flared and the magic field suddenly expanded at a rate so fast that most of the other ponies hardly even saw it happen, before it had extended well past the walls of the palace… and beyond. _Far_ beyond.

Star was swaying on her hooves, with her eyes closed. "Twilight…" she said in a bemused tone of voice. "It's… happening… again."

"What's happening, Star?" said Twilight. "Wait… do you mean…?"

"It's different, though," said Star, in a daze. "It doesn't hurt at all, this time… well, except for a bit of dizziness and a slight headache, but that's nothing…"

"What's going on?" asked Spike, watching the navy blue unicorn with concern.

"I… I think…" said Twilight, finally getting to her feet. "I think this is like what happened when Star gained her shield spell, except that this time it's the sensor array. Star, what do you see? What do you feel?"

"I see…" said Star, her voice taking on a sort of sing-song quality as though she were slightly intoxicated. "I see… _so much_. It feels like it should be overwhelming, but it's not. I see… the portal to Earth… Ditzy Doo's shuttle… Deep Space Twenty… the moon… the sun… all of the other planets… even the listening post several light years away…" She cocked her head to the side. "Now I've changed the focus. I sense every living thing on the world. It's so… so… _weird_. Twilight… I think you can try your spell again, but this time using _me_ as the focal point rather than the sensor array. It's almost completely shot anyway. It'll never work again without some major repairs."

"What? No, Star," said Twilight. "That's _far_ too dangerous. You saw what happened to it. It's completely fried. We can't risk that happening to _you_ as well."

Star let the spell die. Coming back to her normal senses, she turned to face the purple alicorn. "Be that as it may, I want to give it a try. I really think I can do this, Twilight." All the other ponies and dragon looked at one another, and then stared at Star. Star shook her head and said, "I can act as the sensor array, except that I'll also be able to use my magic in conjunction with and as a complement to your own and that of the Elements. The sensors were pure technology, but I am a being of magic, like all of you. I mean, I know I only just got this new spell… somehow, but… just call it a gut feeling. I seriously think this will work, Twilight."

"I'm really not sure this is such a good idea," said the purple alicorn, though Star could hear in her voice that she didn't want to just give up either.

"Even if it is dangerous," said Star, "I'm willing to risk it for Pinkie's sake. I want to find her just as much as you guys do." She looked each of the Bearers of Harmony in the eye as she spoke.

Twilight turned to face Princess Celestia. "Princess, I don't know how this will play out, so if we're going to do this, I would like to ask you to act as a safe guard. If you could use your own magic to… to sort of keep an eye on all of us as we proceed… at the first sign of trouble, you could interject and forcibly interrupt the spells before any harm comes to Star… or the rest of us, for that matter."

Princess Celesta nodded. "Yes, I think I can do that. I will do my best to keep you all from harm."

Twilight turned back to Star. "Well, if you're _absolutely sure_ that you want to try this, we'll give it a shot." She levitated the Element of Laughter off of the ruined sensor array and floated it over to a point above Star's head.

Star looked up at the piece of jewelry and divined Twilight's intentions. "Wait, you want me to _wear_ it?"

Twilight nodded. "That would be easier than just, I don't know, sitting it on your back or something. Don't worry. There should be no adverse effects. Spike once wore the Element of Loyalty without harm, after all." Spike and Rainbow Dash shared a quick look at this. Spike looked somewhat embarrassed, while Dash merely smirked at him.

Star looked back and forth between the blue pegasus and the dragon for a moment, then turned back to Twilight and nodded. Twilight responded by lowering the necklace around Star's neck. For the briefest of moments, Star was almost overcome with the urge to start giggling, apropos of nothing. A slight grin was all she betrayed of this, however, before she quickly regained her control. "Okay, I'm ready when you are."

They all stepped away from the smoking remains of the sensor array and the Bearers of Harmony then surrounded Star. Star closed her eyes. Once again, she heard and felt the magic of the Elements of Harmony, but this time it was centered directly on her. With a gasp, she opened her eyes. She had no way of knowing for sure without a mirror nearby, but she would bet that her own eyes were likely the same opaque white as those of the ponies surrounding her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Princess Celestia's own horn ignite and bath them all with a faint golden glow. The Princess was trying to keep her own magic as much out of the way as possible, for fear of interfering too much with Twilight's spell, but was ready to step in at any time and end it if things got too rough. Finally, Star activated her own newly gained sensory spell as well.

"Whoa…" said Rainbow Dash. "It's kind of like it was before… but like a million times more awesome."

"Incredible,'" said Applejack. "Simply astoundin'."

"I can even feel their _heartbeats_ this time," said Fluttershy in awe.

"And I don't feel nauseous at all," said Rarity. "It feels more… _right_, somehow."

"How are you doing, Star?" asked Twilight.

"I'm fine," said Star. "Let's kick it up a notch."

"All right, here goes," said the purple alicorn.

Star gasped, along with the other ponies. It was like Fluttershy had said before… she could feel _everything_ now. Well, everything in the Milky Way anyway. She could feel the worlds in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants… Earth… Vulcan… Qo'noS… the remains of Romulus… Bajor and the nearby wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant… the homeworld of the Founders of the Dominion in the Gamma Quadrant… Talax and Ocampa and other worlds in the Delta Quadrant… pretty much every world in the galaxy was within her ability to sense… She could sense both of the great barriers, the one around the edge of the galaxy and the one around the center of the galaxy. She couldn't penetrate them… no wait… yes, yes she could. She sensed the presence of what the Federation had dubbed the Sha Ka Ree Entity, still fuming about his inability to escape from the center of the galaxy. She sensed another, similar, but far more powerful entity, known only as 0, outside of the galaxy, trying to get in but being thwarted by the galactic barrier. She sensed other cosmic beings as well, and some of these entities peered back at her as she looked upon them, which was kind of creepy and more than a little scary. Strangely, however, she didn't sense any members of the Q Continuum. She wondered briefly at this, but decided there were more important things to worry about, such as the distinct lack of Pinkie Pie. No matter where she turned her senses (and, through her, the senses of the other involved ponies) she felt no trace of the pink pony at all.

"This isn't working," said Twilight, the frustration more than evident in her voice.

"Hold on," said Star. As she continued to let her senses feel around the galaxy, she noticed something else. Something that she hadn't noticed before and something that she was pretty sure she'd never have seen had she been acting alone, without the help of the Elements of Harmony. She saw what appeared in her mind as creases or folds in the fabric of space time itself. She didn't know how she knew, but she got the impression that these were weak points where other universes abutted against their own. She felt that she could possibly even see through them, if she just… stretched them far enough.

"Star?" said Twilight softly. "What are you doing?"

"I have an idea," said the young unicorn. She noticed that many of these folds were situated adjacent to the portal to Earth. Some of them appeared as though they might have even been stretched across the portal in the past. She probed them carefully to see if there was any danger to the portal itself, and then she began to try to look through them. It was like holding a thin piece of paper up to one's eye and then looking at a bright light. One could still see the light through the paper, and perhaps also shadows of things beyond the paper as well.

"This is gettin' kinda weird," said Applejack hesitantly.

"Are we about to look into… into another _universe_?" asked Rarity incredulously.

"I don't know about this…" said Fluttershy, more than a bit nervously. "Should we be doing this? I mean, I know it's for Pinkie Pie's sake, but…"

"Aw c'mon, 'Shy," said Rainbow Dash, "where's your sense of adventure?"

"I… I think I left it at home under my bed," said Fluttershy, eliciting chuckles from the other ponies. It broke the slowly mounting tension somewhat. Even Fluttershy herself felt somewhat calmer after the bit of levity.

Star felt more confident as she probed at the folds in space-time. Then, she decided to poke a hole in one of them, an ever so tiny one, just enough to see through. Not literally, of course, since she didn't think that was possible, but that's how she thought of what she was about to try to do. As she did it, another entire world seemed to overlay itself over their vision of their own world. It was rather similar to the original, but yet also different in many ways. After scanning this new world, and the rest of the alien galaxy surrounding it, but still seeing no sign of Pinkie Pie, Star reeled in her senses and moved on to the next fold in space-time.

Time passed as Star peered through more and more of the folds. How much time, none of them could say. Spike or Princess Celestia could probably tell them later, but none of them were really even all that aware of the things happening directly around them at this point. As they continued to search worlds in other universes, and as they continued to fail to find Pinkie Pie, Star felt her own frustration growing as well. How many folds they looked through, Star had no idea. However, when she poked through what had to be well past the hundredth one, they could all tell that something was immediately different this time. They all felt it simultaneously. _It was her._ They sensed Pinkie Pie. They'd finally found her. She was on one of the planets immediately overlaying their own, but in a separate universe. And they all began to speak at once.

"There she is!"

"We found her!"

"Where is she?"

"It's completely dark."

"Can we talk to her?"

"Can we bring her back?"

Twilight's voice was tinged with growing concern as she noticed something. "Girls, something's wrong. Do you see her mane and tail? It's… it's lank."

"Uh oh," said Rainbow Dash.

Star didn't have to ask what this meant. Even though she'd never seen it herself until now, she'd heard stories about how Pinkie Pie's normally curly mane and tail would deflate when she became especially depressed. As they all watched Pinkie Pie as she lay on her belly in what, to them at least, seemed like complete darkness, they were shocked when the pink pony suddenly turned her head. She was _looking at them_. They saw the eyes of the pink earth pony widen considerably, and then she was talking to them.

"What…? Who's there…? No… wait… it can't be…" she said. "Twilight? Dashie? AJ? Rare? 'Shy? And… Star? Is that really you? Are you truly there?"

"Yes!" called Twilight. "It's us! Can you hear us, Pinkie?!"

Pinkie Pie shook her head. "No, it's not possible. I have to be hallucinating."

"No! You're not!" said Twilight. "It's really us! We're using the Elements of Harmony to locate you!"

Pinkie Pie looked back up at them again. "I can't actually _see_ you, but I can sense that you're all there. But the weird thing is that I can _hear_ you!"

"Pinkie Pie, where are you?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Are you okay?" asked Fluttershy.

Pinkie shook her head. "I'm pretty sure I'm in another universe. At first, it was great. I was visiting all of the worlds from our old stories. You know, the other worlds that Discord told us about, the ones with Megan and all those other ponies that are like us, but different. It was so much fun, so I wanted to come back and bring you all with me… but… when I tried to come home, I couldn't do it! Something was preventing me from coming back. I couldn't find the right way. It was like I was going through a door that I thought would lead back home, but the place on the other side of the door would suddenly change as I went through it, and I would end up somewhere else entirely. I've been trying for weeks now to get back…"

The other ponies were shocked by this. Twilight slowly spoke again. "Pinkie Pie… how long do you think you've been gone?"

"It has to have been at least two months now, I think," said the pink pony. "I'm so sorry you guys, I've been trying really hard to get back."

Twilight tried to choose her next words as carefully as possible. "Pinkie Pie… I don't know quite how to say this other than to just say it… but… it's been longer than two months since you left here. A _lot_ longer."

"W-what do you mean?" said Pinkie, an edge of panic creeping into her voice.

"Pinkie, you… you've been gone for over six years now," said the alicorn.

They all somehow felt Pinkie's shock as she took in this news. "Six… _years_?! No… no way… it can't have been _that_ long. It's only been a couple of months at most. How can it have been _six years_?! That's just not possible… is it?"

Star and Twilight shared a glance, before turning back in the "direction" of Pinkie Pie. Star said, "It could be that time flows differently where you are than it does here… or maybe something has happened to alter your perception of time. But Twilight is right. Here, in our universe, six years have gone by since you left."

If anything, the news only made Pinkie Pie even more depressed than she already was. "I can't believe it… six years… why…?"

Twilight tried to change tactics. "That's not important right now, Pinkie. What's important is that we've found you. Maybe… maybe you can use this connection as a tether to finally come home?"

Pinkie Pie finally stood up. Her mane and tail remained lank, but she did sound slightly more cheerful. "Hey, maybe you're right. I can feel your presence, so maybe I can use that to get back. I'll give it a shot. Wait… no, hold on a minute… it feels like something else is here now. Do you guys see anythi-"

And then, just like that, their connection with Pinkie Pie was severed utterly. All of the ponies involved in the spell screamed as a new presence made itself known to them. Their collective sensory vision filled up with complete darkness, except for the glowing of two hellish red eyes. The palpable sense of pure evil and hatred and danger and, above all else, incredible, terrifying power exuded from the presence.

The last thing Star felt and saw before losing consciousness was the soothing balm of Princess Celestia's golden magic as it flared around them.

* * *

"…anything like it before," a voice was saying as Star's awareness slowly returned to her. "I've got my court mages studying it already, but I don't think we're going to find anything. I think this is entirely… wait, Twilight, she's finally waking up."

Star opened her eyes and saw two blurry shapes standing over her. She blinked a couple of times and the shapes resolved into the forms of Twilight Sparkle and Celestia. She worked her mouth and managed to get out, "How long was I…?"

"Just a little over an hour," said Twilight. "You got the brunt of whatever it was that happened. Given how it felt to the rest of us, I… well, I'm kind of surprised that you… that you're still alive at all, honestly."

Star moved her head to examine her surroundings. "Where am I?"

"You are in my personal chambers," said Princess Celestia. "Twilight and I felt that this was the closest, best place to bring you while you recovered. My healers have already examined you and deemed that you'll fully heal, but you definitely gave us a scare for a while there at first. How do you feel now?"

Star considered the question and then groaned. "I feel a bit like I've been smashed by an asteroid… one that was on fire when it hit me. But… I think I can stand again, at least." She tentatively tried her limbs and then attempted to stand up. It was a bit wobbly at first, but she managed to keep from toppling over. She turned to the two alicorns and said, "What happened back there?"

Celestia and Twilight shared a look, and then Twilight said, "We… we don't really know. One second we were talking to Pinkie Pie, and the next…"

As Twilight trailed off, Celestia said, "Even I sensed it, despite not being directly connected to your spells. It was… unlike _anything_ I have ever felt before. It was a presence of unimaginable power… beyond anything I've ever encountered, beyond Chrysalis, beyond Nightmare Moon, beyond Sombra… even beyond _Discord_."

Even if Star wasn't already scared before, she definitely would be now. Discord, as the ponies knew him, or Q, as the Federation knew him, was a cosmic level, godlike being, claiming to be omnipotent and demonstrating on multiple occasions that this claim wasn't mere idle boasting on his part. If whatever it was that had shattered their connection to Pinkie Pie really was as bad as Celestia said…

"I need to report this to Starfleet Command immediately," said Star.

"I understand, and I agree," said the Sun Princess. "I have a communications device that allows me to contact the space station in orbit and also Earth if need be. I will allow you to make use of it. It's right over here."

Twilight shook her head and said, "Hold on just a minute, Star. I need to ask Princess Celestia something, and depending on the answer, I think this might be more info that you'll need to report to Starfleet." She turned to the Sun Princess and said, "Princess, have you spoken with Discord lately? I wanted to wait until I had exhausted all other options before trying this but… I think he might be the only hope we have to find and return Pinkie Pie at this point."

Princess Celestia regarded Twilight silently for a moment, and then said, "I was afraid you were going to ask me this. No, Twilight. I have not talked with Discord in a long while now."

Twilight exhaled slowly and said, "I'm hesitant to ask, but… how long has it been since you last spoke with him?"

"It has been a little over six years now," said Celesta. "That is, from what I understand, the same amount of time that you have been out of contact with Pinkie Pie."

Twilight closed her eyes as though she were developing a migraine. Then she opened them and turned her head to Star. "I'm guessing you know what this means, don't you?"

Star nodded solemnly. "Yes. While we were looking for Pinkie Pie, I sensed quite a few cosmic beings out there. However, one group of such beings was rather conspicuous by their complete absence. The Q. I didn't sense a single member of the Continuum at all while we were searching for Pinkie. Given how similar she is in nature to them now, I would have expected to have sensed at least one of them, but I didn't even sense Discord himself. Either they have all sequestered themselves away in their Continuum for some unknown reason, or…"

"…or the same being that is preventing Pinkie Pie from returning home has done something to them as well," said Twilight, finishing Star's thought. "This is even worse than I thought. If there is something out there that can block out even beings as powerful as the Q Continuum, I don't even want to think about what they're capable of otherwise. And the darkness and evil that I sensed from this thing… yeah, I think you do need to contact Starfleet now, Star."

Star swallowed hard and nodded, turning to the communication panel that Princess Celestia had shown to her. She used her magic to manipulate the controls in order to initiate a priority one transmission. "Deep Space Twenty, this is Ensign Star Strider of the USS _Pegasus_ contacting the station commander via the Royal Palace of Canterlot, Equestria on Equus III. I have information of vital importance to relay to Starfleet Command. Please respond…"

* * *

A couple of hours after the encounter with Pinkie and the dark presence, a very weary Star Strider and Twilight Sparkle made their way back to the throne room with Princess Celestia, where the rest of Twilight's friends were waiting for them.

"Oh Star," said a relieved Fluttershy. "You're okay! We were so worried…" Although whatever it was that had affected Star was beyond her fledgling medical abilities, the yellow pegasus still moved over to the navy blue unicorn and looked her over carefully all the same.

Star briefly considered putting on a show of bravado, but when she recalled the presence that had rendered her completely out of it after their cross-dimensional adventure, she shivered slightly and decided bravado wouldn't be appropriate at all. Instead, she merely smiled weakly and nodded her thanks to the yellow pegasus.

Twilight approached her friends and said, "It seems we're faced with something really bad, though we don't know what it is exactly. All we know is that it's an incredibly powerful presence. Princess Celestia says that it's likely more powerful than even Discord." She glanced up at the Sun Princess, who nodded in confirmation. The other four Bearers of Harmony looked at one another in shock at this pronouncement.

"So what do we do now?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I think the more important question is, 'What _can_ we do now?'" said Rarity.

"Should we try to get in touch with Pinkie Pie again?" asked Applejack.

Twilight shook her head. "I'm not sure that would be wise at this time. We don't want to attract that thing's attention any more than we may already have."

Spike looked Twilight in the eye. "We're not just going to leave Pinkie there, are we? Wherever 'there' is…"

Fluttershy finished with her examination of Star and turned to face the rest of them. She looked distraught as she said, "Poor Pinkie Pie… I can't even _imagine_ what she must be going through right now. We have to help her, Twilight."

"I have _no_ intention of leaving Pinkie Pie at the mercy of that… that _whatever_ it was," said Twilight firmly. "While we were in contact with her, I managed to get a… a sort of feel for her essence and I'm pretty sure I could find her again on my own, now that I have that much. I might even be able to open a way for us to reach her. However, that's going to take some _major_ research and preparation before I'd be even remotely ready to attempt something like that. I may be pretty good with magic, but traveling to and from an entirely different universe is beyond me, at least for now. I'm going to stop at nothing until I find a way to do this, though. You can rest assured of that."

Princess Celestia said, "If you need any assistance from me or my court mages, you only need to ask."

"Thank you, Princess," said Twilight. "I'll probably take you up on that."

Star looked around at all of them and said, "We've also informed Starfleet about this situation, and they're going to be looking into it as well. They also confirmed with us that the last known contact with any member of the Q Continuum, including Discord, was over six years ago, at least as long as Pinkie Pie has been gone."

The other ponies and dragon shared a look as the implications of this set in.

"So… that means that something like what happened to Pinkie has most likely happened to Discord and his bunch too?" asked Applejack.

"That's what we believe to be the case, yes, though we don't have a clue why," said Twilight. She sighed wearily and said, "Well… for the time being at least, there's nothing more that we can do. First thing in the morning, I'm going to get started on trying to find a way to get to Pinkie Pie… but I have to warn you again, don't expect this to be a quick thing. Not only will I have to research all of the resources at my disposal here in Canterlot and elsewhere, I'll probably also need to get access to the Federation databases as well. I know they've had experiences with crossing dimensions in the past. Still, it could take quite a while before I'm able to come up with anything."

Star waited to see if anyone else had anything to add and then said, "There's something else to consider. Those aliens that attacked the _Pegasus_ may also be related to this in some way."

Twilight's eyes widened and she started to say something, but was drowned out when several of the other ponies started speaking at once in response to what Star had said. All of them were asking in various ways what she was talking about, and that's when Star realized that, of the ponies and dragon present, she'd mentioned the attack to only Twilight and Spike so far. Therefore, she gave a streamlined account of the attack, putting particular emphasis on the fact that the aliens had apparently departed through a dimensional rift at the end of it all.

"You're right," said Twilight, after the hubbub had died down again. "I suppose we shouldn't jump to conclusions, but it does seem possible that these aliens might be connected to this incident in some way. Maybe they're even agents of this presence that we encountered. We'll have to take that into account whenever we try anything."

Star nodded, and then yawned mightily. The unicorn was feeling exhausted after the combination of casting the sensory spell and then being attacked by that unknown entity, and it was all starting to catch up with her. Still, she had one more thing she wanted to say. "Twilight, if you need my help for anything at all, please don't hesitate to let me know. I will be at my parents' home for the next couple of weeks, but even after that, when I'm back on the _Pegasus_ again, I'll still only be a subspace communiqué away. For now, however, I'm about to fall asleep on my feet. I don't know how much longer I can stay awake."

"I understand," said Twilight. "Are you planning to go back to your parents' house now, or find a place to stay in Canterlot?"

"You're welcome to stay the night here," said Princess Celestia. "I can put you up in one of the royal suites. It's the least I can do after the aid you gave to Twilight and her friends today."

Star bowed deeply to the Sun Princess and said, "I do appreciate the offer, but I have been away from my parents for far too long. Now that I've reconciled with them, and now that our business here seems to have mostly concluded, at least for the time being, I almost can't bear to be away from them any longer."

Twilight studied the navy blue unicorn for a bit and said, "I think whatever that thing did to us took more out of you than we thought. You do need rest, Star, and as soon as you can get it. Would you like me to teleport you directly to Cloudsdale? I haven't had a good chance to use my long-range teleport spell in a while, and this will be a good chance to shake some rust off of it." The alicorn paused and looked at each of the other Bearers. "It'll come in handy if I'm going to be keeping in better touch with my friends from now on, after all." The other four ponies all smiled warmly at her in return.

Star waited and allowed the moment to pass and then nodded to Twilight. "I would be grateful. I wasn't looking forward to another transport ride, to be honest. But first, I…" She turned and faced the other Bearers of Harmony as she spoke. "I just wanted to thank you guys… for helping me out with my own problems. You didn't have to come with me to see my parents, but you did, and you stood by me, even after you heard how horrible I was to my mom and dad. I really appreciate that." He gaze lingered on Rainbow Dash, who smiled and gave her a single nod in return. Aside from Spike and Twilight herself, and despite the relatively rocky start to their friendship back when Star was a filly, the unicorn considered herself closest to the blue pegasus out of all of Twilight's circle of friends, at least of those that were currently present, anyway. Pinkie Pie's absence made her heart ache, especially now that she knew it hadn't been Pinkie's intention to stay away at all.

Star turned back to Twilight and said, "All right, I'm ready to go."

* * *

Twilight and Star appeared on the edge of the cloud lawn of the home of Star's parents. Star swayed on her feet a bit and tried to regain her bearings. If there was one thing that unicorn/alicorn teleportation had over the technology-based Federation transportation that she was used to, it was that it was even more instantaneous, but that could be both a good and bad thing if one wasn't prepared for it.

The alicorn looked at their arrival point and tsked to herself. "Darn it, I was aiming for the porch, right in front of the door," she muttered. "I guess I'm a bit rustier at this than I thought I was."

Star looked around and whistled appreciatively. "We're only a few meters away from where you intended."

Twilight shook her head. "That's fine for here, but what if I need to teleport onto a mountain ledge, or the edge of a volcano crater, or a moving pegasus transport or something like that? A few meters would be the difference between safety and the start of a very long and unpleasant fall. Just be glad the fail-safes kept us out of the wall here, or that we didn't arrive a few meters _below_ the clouds."

Star shook her head and tried not to let the alicorn see her suppressing a chuckle. "Seriously, Twilight, if this is what you consider to be 'rusty', then I don't think you have anything to worry about, because I'm sure you'll have that rust knocked off in no time."

"I hope so," said Twilight, "because when I go back, I'm going to try to land directly on Princess Celestia's throne."

Star couldn't keep the laughter in check this time. "You're joking, right? If not, you'd better check ahead to make sure she's at least not sitting in it again by that point."

"Way ahead of you," said Twilight, with a smirk. "And, no, she's not at the throne. She's still down on the floor talking to my friends." The alicorn walked closer to Star and nuzzled her a bit and said, "Thanks for your help back there. Without it, we never would have found Pinkie and all hope would have been lost. But now, thanks to you, we have a chance after all." Star didn't say anything in reply. She just nuzzled Twilight in return. It was the little things like this that made her mentally buck herself for ever staying away from home for so long. After a few seconds more, Twilight backed away and said, "Well, I don't want to keep you from your parents any longer, so I'll be heading back now."

"Remember what I said," said Star. "If you need me for anything, anything at all, just call. If you want to try to get in touch with Pinkie Pie again at some point, I'm willing to help, evil cosmic force or no evil cosmic force."

"Thanks, Star," said Twilight. "I appreciate that, and I'll definitely keep you in mind… for more reasons than just that. Really, Star, don't wait four years this time."

"I won't," said Star. 'Trust me. Now that I've gotten a taste of what I'd been missing all this time, it's going to be kind of hard to leave it all behind again to go back to the _Pegasus_. I'll come and visit every time the _Pegasus_ is in port at DS20, even if I can only get an hour or so."

"I look forward to it," said the alicorn. "Now, I have to get back. I'm sure the Princess doesn't want a smoking hunk of metal sitting in her court for any longer than it has to be. So… I'll see you later." Star bowed deeply to the alicorn princess, which made Twilight blush and fidget. "Aw, come on, Star, you know that kind of princess-y stuff is really embarrassing for me."

Star stood upright again and said, "It just felt appropriate in this case. Well, instead of that, I'll just say the same. See ya."

Twilight nodded and gave a little wave with a front hoof as her horn began to flare. And then, just like that, she was gone.

Star looked at the spot that had been occupied by her former mentor for a bit, and then turned and headed for the door to her parents' home.

* * *

"_Personal Log. Ensign Star Strider. Stardate 66086.9_

"_Well… my leave is almost over. I'm currently on a shuttlecraft bound for Deep Space Twenty and back to the _Pegasus_. These past two weeks have seemed like both the longest and, sadly, the shortest two weeks of my life. I'm simultaneously looking forward to getting back to work and wishing I had at least another two weeks of leave. But then, isn't that always the case at the end of a vacation?_

"_I have long since fully recovered, both from my magical burnout and from the encounter with… whatever that thing was that popped up during our search for Pinkie Pie. I really don't want to talk about the burnout now, but we've all still been speculating about the second thing. Besides the situation with Pinkie, members of the Q Continuum really haven't been seen at all for the past six years. I have no idea what this might mean, but it can't possibly be a good thing, despite how troublesome those encounters might have been in the past. 'The devil you know,' and all that… And there's still the deal with the aliens that attacked the _Pegasus_. I don't know if they're related to this at all, but something tells me they might be. Just call it a hunch._

"…

"…_I don't want to spend my entire log entry talking about that stuff, so I'll move on to happier things. Well, maybe not so much _happy _in some cases, at least for me, but still better than that other stuff._

"_Moving on… not a lot of progress has been made in Twilight's efforts to cross the dimensional barriers yet, but… again, I don't really want to talk about that right now. I am, however, pleased to report that Twilight and her friends are definitely reconnecting. They made a vow that first night back together in Canterlot that they wouldn't allow themselves to grow apart again like they had, and so far they've been sticking to it. Despite two of them living in different cities now, they've still been able to get together everyday, thanks to Twilight's teleportation. It's nothing for her to pop up to Cloudsdale to pick up Rainbow Dash, and then pop over to Canterlot to pick up Rarity, and then pop back to Ponyville to meet up with Applejack and Fluttershy. Even if it's just an hour for dinner or whatever, that's still better than what was going on before, or rather what _wasn't_ going on before, I guess. Sometimes Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom come along with them as well, which involves an extra teleport to Appleloosa for Twilight, but she's definitely knocked off the rust so it's no big deal._

"_I've hung out with them a few times during these get-togethers myself, but… well, I still feel sort of like an outsider, in a way. They do their best to be inclusive, but still… these are Twilight's friends more than mine, and I just feel like I'm intruding on their time together. I mean, I know Twilight and Spike, of course, and Rainbow Dash and I grew closer due to her connection to my dad, but the other three I only really know through our shared experiences during my first couple of days back in Equestria. Before that, during my childhood, I just never really hung out with Applejack, Rarity, or Fluttershy all that much. And I can totally understand why they might not want a snot-nosed teenager like me tagging along with them on their dinner dates, even if that may not actually be how they feel about it at all. When Scootaloo and her friends are there, it's not so bad, since they used to babysit for me when we were younger, but even then, it's still a bit weird, at least to me. So, for the most part, I tended to prefer to bow out and leave them to their own thing, though I did appreciate the gesture on their part._

"_Anyway, speaking of dinner, I met Pound Cake's marefriend, Bubble Squeak, the other day. It was during a dinner they had together with his parents, where he finally introduced them to one another. I have to admit: she's _cute_. They make a great couple. And… I can't help but feel jealous. I know, I know, I have no right, but it's still there. I never told Pound how I felt about him, never even hinted at it, really, but at the same time I can't shake this stupid feeling that I've been betrayed somehow. It's not even his fault, or hers. It's all me, and I hate it. If anything, though, I guess _I_ was the one who betrayed _him_ by going off for four years with no contact whatsoever, but… argh, okay, enough of that. They're happy together and that's the important thing, right?_

"_Anyway, finally… my time with my parents has been a panacea. I still almost can't believe how accepting and understanding they've been, despite how terrible I was when I left. It's just… it's been wonderful._

"_Dad is still a bit skittish about the whole thing with me being in Starfleet, but I no longer hold that against him, especially after my brush with death. He's got a point, and is right to worry about me. But at the same time, I can't and won't let the fear of something like that happening again deter me. As the great James Tiberius Kirk said, 'Risk is our business. That's what the starship is all about. That's why we're aboard her.' I've tried my best to make dad understand this as well. This is my life now. I think he gets that now, in a way that he didn't four years ago. Oh, and Rainbow Dash finally managed to convince him to drop by Wonderbolts HQ for a visit, and I think it did him a lot of good, because he went back at least every two or three days after that. I think it's going to become a regular thing. At least, I hope it does. They're talking about maybe giving him a gig as one of the official photographers for the Wonderbolts. That would be so awesome._

"_As for mom, we mutually decided to just let all that nasty stuff we said to one another on that day four years ago just be water under the bridge now. Given that I'm grown up and out on my own now, I'm seeing much more of her mischievous side than the strict disciplinarian I knew from my fillyhood, and it's great. I don't have time to get into all the hijinks we got ourselves into during my leave, but let's just say that, while I've always loved my mom dearly, no question, she's definitely a lot more fun to just, you know, hang around with now._

"_Hmm… it looks like my shuttlecraft is about to dock at Deep Space Twenty, so I guess I'd better wrap this up. It's going to be a little bit weird to be back in space again, but I think I'll get used to it soon enough."_

* * *

As Star disembarked from the shuttlecraft, she was somewhat surprised to find not only Dr. M'rrre waiting for her at the landing bay, but also Ensign Jim Tompkins. She looked back and forth between the Caitian and the human, finding herself not at all displeased to see them, even the human ensign.

"Hey, Star," said Tompkins, as she fell into step beside them and they made their way out of the shuttle bay. "I've given what you said a lot of thought over the past two weeks and… yes, I would definitely like us to remain friends, if that's okay with you. I feel like I should apologize for putting you on the spot like that, before."

Star smiled and said, "Of course I want us to remain friends. As you said, I was the one who suggested it, after all. And… don't worry about what happened before. You didn't do anything wrong. It's just that… I… well… you know…"

"You don't have to say it," said Tompkins. "I understand. You don't feel the same way about me as I do… did for you. So, anyway, do you want to go grab a drink a Brunt's bar? Just as friends, of course. I think DJ Pon-3 and Octavia are about to start a new set."

Star's smile widened into a grin and she nodded. "I'd love to. While we're there, I can tell you about the weird stuff that happened to me down on the planet. It's possible that it might even have something to do with the attack on the _Pegasus_."

Dr. M'rrre arched an eyebrow. "Weird stuff? Well… I was going to bow out because I don't get along well with excruciatingly loud music, as you both well know, but I think I can tolerate it to hear about this 'weird stuff' myself, especially if it has something to do with what happened to our ship."

"Oh!" said Tompkins, as if he'd just remembered something. "We completed the translations on those alien transmissions from when the _Pegasus_ was attacked."

Star slowed her pace a bit. "What did they say?"

Tompkins shook his head and said, "We were only able to get the last bit, and it doesn't really make that much sense. As best we can tell, the message was this: 'The one sought is not present. Return to the void at once.' And that's it."

Star considered it for a bit, and then shook her head. "No, that doesn't mean much to me, either, even taking my 'weird stuff' into account. So… the aliens were searching for something or someone, and they nearly turned our ship inside out while looking for it before they decided that it wasn't there, whatever it was."

"That seems to be the long and short of it, yes," said the doctor.

"I wonder what, or who, it was…" said Tompkins.

Star sighed and said, "I have a feeling that we're probably going to find out sooner or later, whether we may want to or not."

"I hope it's later," said Tompkins. "Much later."

As they reached the door to Brunt's bar, M'rrre held up a hand for them to wait for a moment. She pulled out a couple of small items that looked sort of like balls of clay or wax, though they appeared to have some circuitry embedded in them as well. She stuffed them in her ears and said, "All right, I'm ready to go. These are specially designed to dim out any noise farther away than just a few meters, so I'll be able to hear you despite all that noise. I have a few extra pairs, if you want them."

"No thanks," said Star. "I'm probably not going to be much good for conversation while the music's going, anyway. We can talk afterward. We still have a few hours before we have to return to the _Pegasus_, right?"

"That's right, so let's enjoy the rest of our leave while it lasts," said Tompkins cheerfully.

"Thanks to these," said M'rrre, pointing to the devices in her ears, "I just might."

The pony and human chuckled at the Caitian as they entered the bar.

* * *

**Next time, on **_**Star Trek: Pegasus**_

* * *

"Let's get this over with," muttered Brunt, as he eyed the other Ferengi who was sitting across the bar from him.

"It's not what you think," said Leck. "It's just that I have come into possession of a small trinket that I thought you might be interested in, given that you run an establishment with holosuites. Of course, if you're not, I can always take it with me to Deep Space Nine and show it to Quark…"

"Let's not be hasty," said Brunt, as he examined the small yellow cube. "Yes, this does look like Federation holo tech, though it's at least a couple of decades old. Where did you get this?"

"My contact," said Leck, "claims it was found on a planet called Veridian III."

* * *

"They really are very good, aren't they?" said the gray-haired man in the tuxedo as he watched the show. "Not usually my thing, since I'm more into jazz, but still, I have to admit, this is a gas."

"Indeed," replied the man in the blue Starfleet uniform sitting next to him. "I'm with you on that one. I prefer opera myself, but this is indeed a wondrous performance. Hearing it described to me, I expected to be confronted with little more than a disharmonious cacophony, but this really does work. A cello and a… what was it called again?"

"A turntable, I think?" said the first man, a bit uncertainly.

"A turntable," said his balding companion. "Who would have thought it would actually sound good together. Hmm, I wonder if they might be interested in performing a little quartet with us later. If classical cello and techno can mix well, who is to say that your cabaret and my own opera won't fit in as well? It's certain to be a novel experience, if nothing else. What do you say, Mr. Fontaine?"

"I'm game if you are, Doc. And please, pally, just call me Vic."

* * *

Star Strider was glad to have a few moments to herself. The process to restart the warp drive after it had been dormant for the past two weeks hadn't gone off without several hitches, and she was glad the whole ordeal was finally behind them. Now, she intended to spend the rest of the evening curled up in bed with a good book.

Her dreams of a quiet evening were abruptly shattered, however, when someone unexpectedly appeared out of thin air in the middle of her quarters. She yelped and scooted back on the bed, while the intruder bobbled unsteadily on the cloud top that made up the floor of the room. The man, wearing a black suit underneath a short black cape and a top hat, currently had his back to her.

"What devilry is this?!" the man shouted. "Am I standing on… clouds?!"

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my quarters?!" the pony shouted, as she scrambled off of the bed.

The man whirled around as best as he could on the unsteady surface and gawked at her. "My god, a talking horse! A talking _blue_ horse, I should say!"

"Security!" said Star, using her magic to activate her combadge. "Intruder alert! Deck seven, crew quarters!" She looked down at her badge when it gave a low-pitched chirp, indicating connection failure.

"No, not a horse, a _unicorn_," said the man, marveling at the novelty of it all. "Ah, but that little device won't help you, I'm afraid. I had to disable the internal communications on this ship, you see."

"Who are you?" Star asked again.

The man gave her a cursory bow and a faint smile and said, "The name is Moriarty. Professor James Moriarty. Perhaps you've heard of me?"

* * *

_Star Trek: Pegasus_

Episode 2 – "Hologram Shenanigans"

* * *

Author's Notes, 03-31-2013

Well, here it is. The first "episode" in my new Star Trek / My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic crossover series. Spoilers abound in these author's notes (which is why I put them here at the end, of course).

Ugh, I always manage to grossly underestimate not only how much time these things are going to take me, but also how long they end up being. Seriously, this story was originally just going to be "Star Strider's first mission goes badly, and then she goes home and makes up with her parents," and it was originally going to just be a "two-parter" rather than the "four-parter" it ended up being. But then, I knew that I was going to be doing a thing with Pinkie Pie later on, so I figured I'd better go ahead and introduce that now, which turned into the whole thing with Twilight and her friends trying to use the Elements to find her and so on and so forth, and then me trying to weave that together with Star's own story and so on and so forth and… ugh. Sometimes I stop and wonder just what am I getting myself into here? But, then, it's too much fun to worry about that for long. And, uh, yeah, that stuff I said before about hating reading fics that are uploaded piecemeal and incomplete… well, I _still_ hate that, but in this case, if I waited until I'd written the entire series to upload this stuff, you wouldn't be seeing anything for another two or three years at least, probably. _; I'm trying to mitigate that by having each "episode" be mostly stand alone. With that said, however, there is definitely an overarching plotline, introduced in this ep, that will be expanded upon in future episodes and eventually resolved by the "season finale." Fair warning, some of the eps are probably going to be Trek heavy, while others will probably be more FiM heavy, but on the whole I'm going to try to balance it out as best as I can. In this case, I went with a Big Space Battle at the beginning, and then it turned into something similar to the Next Gen episode "Family" (i.e. the one where Picard goes home to visit his brother).

So yeah, this is set twenty years after the events of "Where Nopony Has Gone Before." For the most part, not a whole lot has changed for the ponies in that time. They get visitors from the Alpha Quadrant, like Brunt, and there are things like the medical complex out near the Everfree and the shuttle bay in Cloudsdale and other such things that I might decide to throw in later, but beyond that, the lives of most ponies haven't changed all that incredibly much. Similarly, the timeline of things that happened in the Alpha Quadrant hasn't been too significantly altered by the events of "WNHGB" aside from there being ponies running clothing boutiques on Earth and the like. Essentially, the events up to and including the point where Spock Prime and Nero disappeared into the past (or, more accurately, into an alternate timeline) all progressed much the same as they did in the real Star Trek timeline, including the Dominion War and such. This also includes the events of the Star Trek: Countdown comic (which is why he's "Ambassador Jean-Luc Picard" in this), which was a tie-in to the 2009 J.J. Abrams movie.

The whole alicorn Twilight Sparkle thing happened when I was about half-way through writing this fic, so I decided to just roll with it and go back and make Twilight an alicorn rather than a unicorn in this. For the most part, it didn't really change all that much. I just tossed in a few references to wings and such, but beyond that, she's the same as before. In my personal canon and the canon for these fics, alicorn Twilight Sparkle is little different from unicorn Twilight. She still lives in the library in Ponyville, for instance. She still acts pretty much the same as she did before (well, aside from the stuff at first where she's all "unhinged" as Spike calls her). All the princess-y stuff just embarrasses her, so she has at least her friends all treat her the same as they did before. If all of this gets blown out of the water by whatever happens in Season 4 and beyond of MLP:FiM, and it most likely will, then oh well. If I can easily reconcile any divergences in later "episodes" then I'll do so. Otherwise, I'll just say Discord did it.

Star's "superpower" of gaining the abilities of Starfleet technology all Mega Man like is definitely going to be playing an ongoing role in the fic series as it progresses. I'm well aware of the potential that this might lead her to being vastly overpowered, and I'm going to try to avoid that as best I can. Spoilers: she's definitely going to be getting a phaser spell at some point, but beyond that I haven't nailed down exactly what I do and don't want her to be able to do, though.

The Star/Tompkins thing is pretty much just self-parody of the whole Twilight/Riker thing from the last fic, but with the roles somewhat reversed. If Ensign Jim Tompkins comes off as kind of a creeper, then I have succeeded. That's what I was going for. I didn't want him to be _entirely_ unlikeable, mind you, because he's going to be sticking around for a while. Essentially, he's a guy who has been crushing on Star since his Academy days and was overjoyed when he found out they were posted to the same ship, only to be crushed when he found out that, well, she's just not into him. Rest assured that the romance subplot is pretty much dead as of this fic. I brought it in and killed it, just because it amused me to do so. As for Star/Pound Cake, on the other hand… I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that one yet, if anything. ¬_¬

Derpy vs Ditzy. Honestly, even though I already called her "Derpy" in the previous fic, I just kind of like "Ditzy Doo" better for some reason, so that's what she's going to be called in this from now on. I don't subscribe to the bit of fanon that "Derpy Hooves" and "Ditzy Doo" are separate characters. The character in "The Last Roundup" was originally going to be called Ditzy Doo, but was changed to Derpy at the last minute as a "nod to the fans." (And we most likely would have avoided Derpygate altogether if they'd just stuck with that plan to begin with, but oh well.) If they do come out later on the show itself and say that Derpy and Ditzy are separate then… oh well… Discord did it. And, yes, Ditzy Doo Deliveries is indeed a reference/shout-out/(dare I say it) homage to _Fallout: Equestria_. So that's another reason I wanted to change her name in this.

And lastly, I was absolutely, most definitely trying to channel Epic Wub Time during the Vinyl/Octavia scenes. I'll just say it straight up: if Vinyl Scratch is ever given an official voice in the show proper and it's _not_ Jessi Nowack, I will be disappoint.

Oh, and one more thing… if anyone wants to be a pre-reader for future episodes of this, let me know. I basically went without a pre-reader for this one. The sole pre-reader I had for the last fic turned out to be… less than reliable. As such, I would greatly appreciate serious offers only, because I would like to avoid repeating that experience.


End file.
